I enjoy writing devotionals and blogs that are uplifting and encouraging. However, in this case, I must warn you this is less a devotional and more a forum for righteous venting. There is spiritual application if you will bear with me.
My indignation started a couple of weeks ago when I became aware of the arrest of a Penn State coach named Sandusky. I’d been watching the news with open-mouthed disgust, yet asking, “Why am I surprised?” A trusted coach and mentor to at-risk boys took advantage of his position by raping and molesting children; 10-year old boys who shouldn’t even know what the word “sex” means! To add insult to injury, making my heart sink deeper into despair, I heard that the coach got out on bail within days. Bail! For ruining at least 8 boys’ lives, he is allowed to go free until his trial - free to molest again if he chooses.
I’m angry. I’m angry with Mr. Sandusky. I’m upset with the assistant coach who walked in on him in the act and did nothing to protect the boy. He should have run over to them in the showers and punched Sandusky’s lights out. Instead, he walked away.
I’m also ticked off at us, our society, our culture, which turns on our televisions and computers and even our smart phones to allow sexually charged suggestions to flow freely into our hearts and thoughts. We’ve become passive to subtle sexual innuendos in TV shows. We stopped crying “outrage” at lingerie ads that are tantamount to pornographic images. We are parents who have turned our heads away out of a sense of helplessness. When was the last time you or I wrote to TV network execs or advertisers to complain about morally or religiously offensive ads or programming? Why have people with good values become a society of wimps?
Take a walk through the mall and listen to the language coming from the mouths of 14 year old girls and boys! And even adults! Read about what middle school children do to each other in school closets. Our children are losing their innocence.
So, why are we surprised that a society with upside down values can produce so many child molesters, men addicted to pornography, the sexual slave trade, and cheating spouses?
When I was a child, our neighbor had a pinup poster of a half naked woman in his garage. I was afraid to go near him. My natural instinct to avoid such a man was sharp. Today, our children are becoming anesthetized to immorality, sin, and perversion as a result of the sights and sounds they are exposed to.
Jesus said, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
That’s a strong warning! I wonder what society would say if we took pedophiles directly to the nearest ocean, tied a millstone (a very large, heavy boulder) around their necks and dropped them into the deepest bowels of the sea to pay for their having ravaged and ruined Jesus’ “little ones” -- the innocent, trusting children whose last concern should be betrayal by an adult? Think about it for a minute. How would society react? Some would cheer the swift justice, but many would cry “Foul!”
When it comes down to it, perhaps we should all be on trial. I wonder what the penalty would be if Christians were convicted of moral apathy, of turning the other cheek to the detriment and safety of society? I also wonder if what John wrote in Revelation about the end-times church applies to us:
To the Angel in the Church of Laodicea write: “These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit (vomit) you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” (Revelations 3:14-17)
Are you scared yet? I am! These words, this accusation from God Himself, is frightening. We are a rich society, but morally we are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked!! Our nation is lukewarm. We wrongly think, I’ll live my life and let you live yours. What you do has no effect on me or my children. The immoral behavior of those around us is something I can’t do anything about. These are all lies we’ve bought into. They are the foundation for lukewarmness.
As a young mom and a young Christian, I naively thought my girls would adopt my values by how I loved them, and by taking them to church. It takes effort to protect our families. It means taking a stand against what we allow into our homes, and into the gates of our kids’ minds and hearts: we must protect what enters their eyes, ears and thoughts. We can extend their innocence longer by saying “No” to their desire to fit into the culture; by teaching them scripture and giving them a basis for moral truth; by building into them the courage to live it out. By investing our time with them instead of leaving it up to technology or strangers, or even coaches to shape their values.We can and must teach them what God has to say about living a godly life in an ungodly culture.
How? We need to begin with ourselves!
We can draw closer to Jesus to reset our values sensitivity meter. Then we can influence the rest of our family, our small world, and eventually our nation.
Feeling helpless? Don't give up -- God knows we can’t do this in our own strength, but we have a Savior who has promised that with Him all things are possible:
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!!! (Philippians 4:13).
Christ promisses it ... strength to do all things. We have power through Him to change at least our own small world, one step at time. Helpless? Heck no!
© copyright 2011. Sandra Dowling Housley.
