I am so glad the elections are finally over. I have talked to a lot of people and no matter which political party they belong to, we all agree the negative ad campaigning wears us out. We put our trust and faith in someone to take care of our needs and they let us down. We vote for the lesser of two evils.
However I believe we need to refocus a little. We place too much faith in man who will always let us down. We need to put all our faith in our God who can and will take care of our every need. In Philippians 4:19 Paul says, "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ."
That means that it is not up to man to meet any of our need if God is going to supply all our need. We are in a different economy. We are in God's economy. As believers in the USA we have misunderstood the difference between need and want. We have become lazy and used to our luxuries.
There are many people living today around the world that have no choice but to depend upon God. Without Him they would die. We need to understand that without God we will die also. We do know that the end of the world is closer now than when Paul talked about it in his writings. We need to put all our trust in God and be dependent upon Him for everything, including the state of the nation we live in.
The United States of America is the best place on the planet to live. However it is only great because of the position and importance we have placed on God and His commands. When we give up those values we will lose our greatness.
If we as believers and citizens of heaven will do as it says in 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." God says that he will answer and heal our land and forgive our sin.
Another way to trust and have faith in God is with our riches and our time. It is time to start giving so that people who have nothing will not go hungry. It is the church's responsibility to take care of the needy. Our neighbors are going without and we are telling them "it is not our problem." In the Bible it says what we do for someone in this world we do also for Jesus Christ.
In Matthew 22:37, "Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'"
This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
So love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. Who is your neighbor?
Pastor Lon Smith of the River Ministries in Coleville is a member of the Carson Valley Ministers' Association.
