As I have noted often, LGBTQ advocates have been implementing a decades-long strategy to normalize LGBTQ behavior through popular media and culture, legalize it in the courts, stigmatize those who disagree as “homophobic” and “dangerous,” and then criminalize such disagreement. All four phases of this strategy are clearly at work in our society today.
The God who came at Christmas comes again into the lives of all who trust him as Lord and Savior (John 1:12). As we have noted this week, he loves you not because you are lovable but because he is love (1 John 4:8).
Billy Graham was right: “Many of us have put our faith in money, jobs, status, gadgets, pleasures, and thrills. Many of us—and society as a whole—have tried to bypass God, and now we are paying the inevitable price. We are in trouble because we have left out God; we have left out the Ten Commandments; we have left out the Sermon on the Mount. Now we as individuals and as a culture are reaping the tragic results.” The answer to our cultural crisis is found at Christmas.
In light of today’s theme, the biblical exhortation to give thanks becomes even more compelling. In Psalm 100 we find seven such imperatives in the Hebrew, seven commands related to gratitude.
A research study has found that most pastors thinking of leaving ministry are concerned that Christians are identifying more with their political ideology than their faith.
The recipe for gratitude is simple. Give thanks to God in prayer; say, “Thank you,” to those who extend grace or favor to you; write thank-you notes; keep a gratitude journal; have a weekly family “Thanksgiving meal” where family members extend thanks to one another; incorporate gratitude—instead of complaints or cynicism—into your daily conversation. We have no shortage of reasons and opportunities to express gratitude to God and others. So be intentional in your pursuit to become a grateful person. It will benefit your Creator, your loved ones, and even yourself.
A high school football coach fired for praying in public must be reinstated and allowed to kneel in prayer under a final order issued by a federal court.
It should be noted that choosing against culture always comes at a cost. It is far easier to float with the current than to swim against it. Living biblically in an unbiblical culture especially requires courage, as the members of the Hebrews 11 “Hall of Faith” vividly remind us.
In a day when religious leaders and entire denominations reject biblical sexual morality and endorse elective abortion, when just 37 percent of America’s pastors hold a biblical worldview, does Hosea’s warning apply to us?
Live the gospel and share the gospel. Know Christ and make him known, and long after yesterday’s elections are forgotten, your faithfulness to your Lord will echo in eternity.
This is the promise, and the invitation, of God.
