Matthew 24: 4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.”
Well, here we are. It’s mid-July 2024. It's hot, and I'm, well, a little hot, too. We are four months out from a presidential election; Biden could step down, and a new candidate could take his place; Trump asks for a judge to delay sentencing, inflation is still extremely high, Israel is still at war, COVID now has a variant called Flirt (which sounds like a bad Taylor Swift song to me), and the Olympic Games start in two weeks. Also in the news, the US heat wave persists; Zelensky says he’s to win the war against Russia, shark attacks off the Florida Gulf coast, and in Kentucky, a mass shooting in Florence this weekend, killing four and wounding three others at a birthday party. In celebrity news, Alec Baldwin’s “Rust” fatal shooting trial opened, JLo and Ben Affleck are rumored to have marital troubles; Prince Harry addresses Pat Tillman’s mom in ESPYs speech amid controversy.
Now, all of these were headlines I read this week (on my phone of course). Which ones did you see? Which ones did you find essential and dig deeper into? Which ones deserve your attention? Which ones have valid truth and meaning? Which ones did you scroll on by? Why do we graze the news like cattle in a field of grass? Which ones of these were simply just distractions? Which ones do you think were deceptions?
I am by no means discrediting any of these, the mass shooting alone brought me to tears because one of the victims was an EKU student. It was absolutely unnecessary and horrifying.
I am simply saying this: where are your eyes pointed?
We are Blind
Psalm 12: 2 Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts.
What’s crazy is that we will forget about most of these headlines by this time next week or even tomorrow. The media will continue to give us election news and then throw in some celebrity news to distract us, too.
I heard something profound the other day that will stick with me as this election approaches- “Don’t look LEFT or RIGHT, Look UP!” Meaning when it comes time to make our decisions, don’t look at man or media for that matter, look at Jesus. He’s got the answers we need. Yes!
We are Deaf
Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
My sister brought another headline to my attention a day or two ago; it was a mother of a daughter the same age as mine. Her name is Heather Wyatt; and you can research her story yourself. Her daughter, Aubreigh Wyatt, had committed suicide back in September because she was bullied in her school by a group of girls since the 4th grade. The mother repeatedly tried to get the school to help, reporting the text messages and incidents repeatedly. After her daughter died, she took to her social media platforms to tell her daughter’s story, be her voice, and be an advocate for anti-bullying. As most of you know, I was a teacher for 22 years, and bullying is my biggest intolerance! I am thankful to have worked in a school system with a zero bullying policy, and systems are put in place at a young age to teach kids to not bully, if you see something, you say something, and how to find help when you are being bullied. However, sometimes that's not enough, and the conversations start at home with your own kids!
This story is enough to make a momma’s knees hit the floor, and she prays to the Good Lord that this never happens to her own baby. Oh my goodness, my heart breaks for this family. But this didn’t make national headlines when it happened. It should have.
The human desire to avoid difficult news makes one deaf.
Quoted from the actor Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in The Chosen series.
I love that quote, not because The Chosen is my favorite show and Jesus himself said it on that show, but because it’s so true. We avoid and avoid and avoid until we are numb. We are so easily distracted by scrolling to see what everyone else is doing that we look the other way to doing what is RIGHT and seeing what is RIGHT in front of us.
Getting our Strength from Him
Hosea 10:13 But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors.
There isn’t a woman in the Bible who had it easy—Sarah, Esther, Ruth, Deborah, Abigail, Hannah, Elizabeth, Mary, the Mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, to name a few. So we, as God’s daughters, should not have it easy either. Join me in pledging to be a voice for someone who can’t speak, not depending on the media to tell us what to do, looking to our Bibles for answers, and looking up to Jesus for decisions. I don’t want to depend on my own strength anymore cause I’m not that strong.
1 Timothy 1:12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that He considered me trustworthy, appointing me to His service.
Your fired-up sister,
Erica
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