Back in the late ’60’s, when I was still in high school, we used to go to Disneyland fairly often. On one such occasion, I was there with a friend in Tomorrow Land – we were trying to buy something out of a vending machine. The only problem? The vending machine was out of order – it wouldn’t deliver. So what did we do? We did what teenagers typically do – we smacked it several times. Suddenly, we heard a man shouting and running toward us – the Disneyland fix-it man. Poor guy – there we were thumping on his machine and he was acting like a doting father.
Out of order – let me count the ways. They are often a daily occurrence in our lives – stop lights, appliances, cars, copy machines, toilets, vehicles, article titles… even our government can be out of order.
God is a God of order and the whole universe is a precision-made work of His doing. Disorder & discord are signs of sin & death. And, believe it or not, it’s fairly easy to mess things up and get them out of order. But Matthew 6 tells us to first seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness and then the other things will fall into place. God has a ‘best order’ for our lives!
But we read, in 1 John 5 that “the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.” Not all that hard to see is it?! Our world is out of order! It doesn’t function like it was designed to by our Creator. Simply put – it’s being swayed by people who are being swayed by darkness!
Our elites fly the world over preaching at us about gas all the while lecturing our farmers about using too much gas to produce the food we need. During WW2 we had young men lying about their age so they could help defend our world against Germany’s aggression. Today we have grown men lying about their gender so they can compete against girls in sports. We are out of order. And just a quick side-bar here – this year there were 692 women’s titles, scholarships & records taken way from females and given to men. Totally – – out of order!
We are told in the Bible that we are in the world but not of it. Much like a fish who, though he lives in a salty sea, doesn’t taste salty. Great news! But we are living in a culture that has exchanged the truth of God for lies and thus we are — out of order.
This is why our public education will allow a man dressed up like a woman to sit and read books to kindergarten & library classes but if a coach prays on the field, he’s violating civil rights. Why? We’re out or order. This is why a beached whale on the seashore is called a tragedy but the abortion of a healthy, unborn child is called a medical procedure. We’re out of order!!
People ask me if I’m pro-choice? Yes! Absolutely!! I choose life over death. I choose truth over lies. I choose faith over doubt. I choose hope over fear. I choose light over darkness. I choose Jesus over everything else!
There’s an amusing story about a 37 year-old New York man who was a small time crook – the type who would mug little old ladies. But one morning in 1996 – this crook messed with the wrong little old lady. Our mugger bumped into a 94 year-old woman in Greenwich Village and snatched her purse. The NYPD later arrested him and as they drove him to the police station, the lieutenant told him flat out – “You just robbed the mother of the biggest mob chieftain in New York.”
The 94 year-old lady was Yolanda Gigante, and her son was Vincent Gigante, described by authorities as head of the Genovese mob, the nation’s most powerful Mafia family. The police lieutenant later said, “When the perp heard that, he just slumped down into the back seat of the police car. He had sort of a stunned, resigned look on his face, like – ‘How could I be so stupid?’”
Great question for all of us! How can we allow sin to abound so profusely and openly in our society? I honestly pray & believe this will be a time in our history that Christ-followers will stand up and proclaim God’s truths in our darkened cities. As Kami Garcia has so astutely penned – “We don’t get to choose what is true. We only get to choose what we do about it.”
Bob and Susan Beckett pastor The Dwelling Place City Church at 27100 Girard Street in Hemet, CA. For more information, you may contact them at DPCitychurch.org
