2024-08-02
Good Morning Dear Ones,
The road to patience and humility can be long and winding if a lot of stress is present in one’s household. One person triggers another and poor communication follows. The definition of rhetoric is the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques. This applies on a personal as well as corporate levels. Getting even more precisely into this subject, there are semantics, which are concerned with meaning, i.e. implication, logic, word relationships, and cognitive structure in word choices. That’s the extent of linguistics necessary to introduce this devotion, which is about developing patience and humility. Good communication is necessary to reach this goal.
A few days ago, we saw yet another example of how political rhetoric can divide our country with the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump. While it’s true that the person with the AR-15 rifle was mentally in a bad place, this young man was responding to bullying in his past and the horrific rhetoric being heard around him. His actions are not to be excused, but pointing the finger isn’t useful here. Instead, we need to realize that destructive rhetoric played a huge part in what happened. That begins in the home. This problem is nothing new. Back in Noah’s time, we learn from GN 6: 5, God’s grieving over the state of people’s hearts at the time. “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on earth, and that every indication of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” This greatly troubled God’s heart. Ideas like choosing good rhetoric and semantics weren’t mentioned in the Scriptures directly but they surely might have helped. GN 6: 11, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.” It was this thinking on His part that led to the story of the flood at that time. In view of what is happening in our own time, we must pause and ask if God will allow us to face some overriding form of destruction in the near future? Could this be the beginning of the end times as described in the Scriptures? Or could it be the genesis of the people with a conscience insisting on better child rearing, communication and over all behavior toward one another? God’s will has always been unity of good ethics (those in line with God’s teachings) ---a huge change from what has been the order of the present day.
God alone can answer these questions, but even in my own relatively short lifespan of 80 years, I have seen the changes that leave me deeply troubled about our future. It doesn’t matter what political views people in North America hold, what matters is how we are raising children and grandchildren in our homes and whether or not they are taught to respect the teaching found in the Scriptures. The only chance we have on the corporate level is whether or not, we are willing to have the courage to heal the tremendous ideological division which is governing events in the present. We are running out of time to take steps to heal. Mankind doesn’t attend to history and thus, can’t learn its lessons. Instead, it repeats the awful mistakes of the past time and time again.
However, the situation isn’t hopeless. God has made His will crystal clear regarding unity. EPH 4: 3, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” On a personal level, we have RO 12: 16, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” Moreover, PHIL 2: 3-4, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.” These principles are of great value, whether in the home or running a national election.
PRAYER: O Lord, we love You and are deeply grateful for the wisdom You give us in the Scriptures. In addition, we recognize our need to come to You with listening ears and heartfelt prayers in Your shelter. PS 91: 1-2, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God in Whom I trust.’” We accept that we have a responsibility to make every attempt to rear our children as caring, ethical, good people, who behave with the love Christ modeled for us. Learning to have faith in You is begun at home and in our places for worship. You deserve our eternal thanks and praise for all You are and all the many ways You apply Your wisdom while keeping Your promises. Our plea is that the divisions in our homes and the divide that troubles North America will be healed. We offer this prayer in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I am commanded to look to the Holy Spirit for lessons about how God has responded to the evil/violent world of Noah’s time and how they apply to the present. In the meanwhile, we must bear the message of PHIL 4: 8, keeping it in mind. “In conclusion, fill your minds with good things and deserve praise—things that are true, noble, right, pure, honorable, and lovely.” The only real inner peace and serenity comes from being justified in God’s sight, i.e. deemed acceptable to Him. Pray that nothing awful happens because this message has been ignored. God’s will is seen in 1 COR 1: 10, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.” Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2024. All Rights Reserved.
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