Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.â€�¹ 

Much of our society today is being infected by a virus. No, I don’t mean a computer or biological virus, but a moral virus that could, if not arrested, spread like a plague and eventually infect, or at least seriously affect, our entire society. It’s the irresponsible “blame-game� virus that can end up over time (even though ever so slowly) seriously weaken what was once a healthy, virile people. When a nation becomes morally weakened from within, it becomes vulnerable to opposing forces from without. Today, I believe that we in America and the West are in far greater danger of being horrifically attacked than we ever were during World Wars I and II and in the days of the Cold War with Communism.

Too many business leaders irresponsibly "cook" their company books out of selfish interest and reap havoc in thousands of other people’s lives. Too many employees refuse to accept responsibility for doing the best job they can possibly do. Failing people often blame racial prejudice for their lack of advancement. Irresponsible parents blame teachers when they fail their children for cheating on exams. And as Michael Josephson of Character Counts reports, in a survey of some 36,000 high school students a high percentage of students admit to cheating and lying and at the same time claim to be highly ethical.² These kids who already know how to play the blame-game will be the business and political leaders of tomorrow. Politicians blame the opposition party, divorced people blame their former spouseâ€"and so on ad infinitumâ€"all without accepting personal responsibility for their own failures.

Whether it is at a national or an individual level, when we fail to accept personal responsibility for our actions, we inevitably fall into the blame-game trap. As long as we do this, we will never resolve our personal or national problems.

Individually, we need to accept personal responsibility for every aspect of our life. At the local and national level, we need to vote for leaders whom we know will act responsibly and put the genuine needs of their constituents first instead of bowing to personal interest groups in order to further their own political careers.

We live in perhaps the most developed, highly educated, and technically advanced society ever. But what kind of defense are super powered high speed jet fighters against suicide bombers and dirty bombs? Our brilliant technology will not save us. Remember that in his day Hitler was the leader of one of the most educated, intelligent, and enlightened societies up to that point in history. The reality is that if we abandon our moral moorings and lose our moral compass, we will be (and perhaps are already) on a course heading towards national disaster.  

May we never forget that “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.�

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please grant in Your loving mercy that You will send a great spiritual awakening to our nation before we are struck again with another “nine eleven� wake-up call (that so soon we forgot), and as a nation turn our hearts back to You. Please let Your work begin in me. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name, amen."

1. Psalm 33:12.
2. Character Counts, http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/reportcard/

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