The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Fruit of the Spirit, continued

The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: "When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth." (II Samuel 23:3,4—NIV)

Then we come to the turmoil of today. Our government is in an uproar because of an alleged lack of faithfulness and truth in the White House.

I think over the years we Americans have come to expect lying and moral instability in our government. American politics is a rough, tough business. During the present century politicians have lied, stolen, and even murdered their opponents in their fierce endeavor to hold office.

Did an American politician ever keep his word? Did he ever do what he promised when campaigning for office? Perhaps in some instances. But the pressures and realities of the office forced the most sincere to hedge on the statements made in the heat of the campaign.

We Americans are accustomed to the finagling that goes on in the elective offices and do not protest unless the chicanery becomes blatant.

A few years ago we elected to the Presidency of our country a gentleman who was known to be a cunning politician, sometimes described as "slick." He did not seem to be famous for faithfulness and truth. Yet the moral degeneration of our country caused us to overlook the fact that this candidate may not have been a distinguished statesman of outstanding integrity. His opponent in the race, however, was much closer to the American ideal of the virtuous political leader.

Well, we got what we bargained for. We put our self-serving, affluent life style ahead of faithfulness, truth, honor, integrity. We elected a man with a reputation for deviousness—one who apparently is not what he claims to be, who does not do what he promises to do, who says he is doing one thing when he is doing another.

Now, six years later, the government is in confusion because the President has been caught in unfaithfulness and lying—unfaithfulness and lying beyond the limits of acceptability of many American people.

If the present imbroglio stirs up some of the Christians to seek the Lord it will prove to be a good thing. However harm—perhaps irreparable harm—may have been done to our nation because of a lack of clear, forceful, wise, courageous dealing with North Korea, China, Iraq, Iran, Russia, and perhaps other nations, and because of seeming slothfulness concerning military preparedness.

Perhaps we needed a dedicated statesman-warrior at the helm during the last few years.

The present situation could have a good result if it forces the American people to reexamine their values.

To be continued.