“Why would he act that way?”
“How can they even think that’s normal?”
“She thinks there’s how many genders?!”
“This world is going to hell in a handbasket…” “The world is so wicked, God has to come back soon!”
No matter where we go or who we’re with, we hear these questions, and many more like them, over and over again, ad infinitum. People are deeply puzzled by the direction the world is going, and genuinely terrified by what they see as the inevitable end. The problem is, if we simply look at people’s choices and behavior from the outside in, we can only be suspicious and fearful. For real understanding, we must ask God to open our spiritual eyes to see those invisible things that cause people to choose the way they do, both good and bad. That takes time, quiet thought, spiritual sensitivity and maturity.
The motivation for choices and behavior comes from what we humans believe to be true. Our beliefs are formed by what we listen to day after day from many different sources. If we’re listening to unbiblical rhetoric, what we believe is going to be unbiblical. The influence is not weakened when what we hear and believe is false, for a lie believed as truth will affect our lives as truth even though it’s a lie. It is the responsibility of each generation to pass God’s unchangeable Truth on to the next generation. The past several generations have not done a good job of preserving and sharing Truth. When history—and that includes Biblical history— is not taught as truth, things that should be remembered are forgotten so that history becomes legend, and legend becomes the fairy tale of myth.
In Amos 8:11, we read a chilling prophecy from God: “Behold the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, But a famine for hearing the words of the Lord.” That is being fulfilled in our day. Slowly but surely, both the written Word and the spoken Word of God is being removed from public spaces, even in churches. Sermons are preached to make people feel good, rather than bringing instruction from the word of God that requires change.
But the current drive to be constantly high on something, and the relentless worship of sports, entertainment and narcissistic celebrities, both in spiritual spaces and out, is not the root of the problem, as disturbing as it is. The problem is the spiritual anorexia—self starvation—that is being experienced by so much of the American culture and church today. There is a restless search for meaning and purpose that can only be found in God. Augustine said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” There is no hope for our culture outside of a return to relationship with God the Father through Jesus the Son, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
The futility of trying to fill the chronic emptiness of spiritual anorexia is like trying to fill the Grand Canyon with a teaspoon. It is a worthless waste of time that inevitably ends in frustration and disappointment.
FROM DR. DIXIE: Infinite Grace Ministries is growing again! As a result of the devastating stroke that knocked me off my feet four years ago, I have been unable to take care of the details involved in operating this ministry. Our Board of Directors is being rebuilt, and a plan is in place to bring this essential ministry before our communities again. Ministry appointments are available through Dr. Dixie, Robert Huckleberry and Ellen Vanderveer. Call 580 774 2884 and talk to Kendra about dates and times.
Dixie Yoder
