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Help Needed

This was just submitted to to the Twin Falls Times-News for the Faith Corner column I write for on a regular basis. Look for it on Saturday in the Times-News.


Help Needed
by Paul Thompson

Like most everywhere across the Magic Valley, there are “Help Needed” signs. They are in windows and on sidewalks. Some of the signs post the hourly wage (always above minimum wage), including benefits and starting bonuses.

This is how it is in this temporal day. Man is always in need. Just like there is no shortage of “Help Wanted” signs in the commercial sector there is no shortage of “Help Needed” signs in the inner-man. 

Man always needs help.

He needs help in his marriage. He needs help with his children. He needs help getting along with his neighbor. He needs help putting up with his coworkers. He needs help pushing his car to the gas station when he runs out of gas in the Blue Lakes and Pole Line intersection.

Man was created in such a way as to have a relationship with God and all of His creation. Yet, because of sin, he needs help with how to do so properly so as to glorify God. 

Man needs help, but this is not how it is with God. He needs no help. Ever.

From before the first pages of the Bible to beyond the close of all temporal days, God is never without resources or in need of assistance. God, as He describes Himself in the Bible, is not meeting with a therapist or seeking counsel on how to win friends or influence a generation in need of Him. He’s not needing to be coached on how to be more compassionate or more clear with His commandments. 

This is because God is not man.

Let me encourage the reader to not look for an escape from the day God has ordained but rather when we find ourselves in need of help to turn to the one who is not found lacking. 

God does not need to be reinvented for men to love him, He was not invented.

God does not need to create a new ad campaign so everyone will want to try Him again, He was not created.

God does not need a board meeting of all the brilliant economists to know how to get out of debt, He is all knowing.

God does not attend conferences to learn of new medical discoveries, He is full of wisdom.

God does not look to ally with other nations to help protect His kingdom, He is all powerful.

God does not have a weekly appointment with a therapist to learn skills in how to be more gentle. He is all together different from everything He created. 

So, as you drive around and see all the “Help Needed” signs, let that cause you to meditate on the nature of God and His eternal attributes. Be encouraged that you can trust the One who needs no help, and He is not lacking in any resources to help with all of your needs. 

There is a greater need that we are completely lacking in, bankrupt of righteousness. This is a great kindness of God that he would send His One and Only Begotten Son, Christ Jesus the Lord, to satisfy what man is most incapable of doing. The wrath of God can only be satisfied by the blood of Christ. 

Only the one who needs nothing can do this for you. Repent of your sin, believe the Gospel, be saved.

Where is the Nation’s Morality

The current spiraling of sexual immoral behavior of politicians, news reporters, and Hollywood producers is tragically really nothing new. But it is ruling the news most days.

A nation troubled by the sexual misconduct of irresponsible men and women are at the same time complicit by the promotion of a hyper sexualized nation.

If we, as a nation, are going to be honest in our conversation about what’s going on (really, about what’s been going on) then we are going to have to not only talk about Hollywood and politicians, we are going to have to talk about the public school campus, we are going to have to talk about the half time show at the Christian school basketball game, we are going to have to talk about what our home-schooled children are doing on the internet, we are going to need to talk about morality.

Hollywood has been pushing the envelope since the industry began. It set standards because it knew there were limitations. Then the government began to set standards because even the government knew there needed to be limitations and standards that a moral nation needs to have in order to have a decent behaving population.

This is complicated and yet quite simple. The institution ordained by God to be a moral compass in any nation is not the movie industry or a self appointed wise man, who eventually will show himself to be the worlds greatest fool but is a church of redeemed followers of Christ. The pillar of truth in the land is not a senator, school teacher, sports coach, dance team sponsor, actors, athletes, news anchors, or movie producer. It is a duty given to a unique people of redeemed from the wrath of God known as a church.

Where are you church? Is Dancing with the Stars really your standard for wholesome entertainment for your children? Is American Idol really your clothing standard for the coming Lord’s Day? Is any sitcom on any network really going to instruct your children on acceptable behavior and appropriate topics to talk about?

What if the church spoke into our culture again with conviction? What if we spent our money differently? What if we reconsidered the source of our entertainment? What if we looked to not just elect “moral” people, but godly people? What if we reinvented the education system? What if we engaged social media differently? What if we didn’t let the industry that pushes immodest clothing styles tell us how to dress? What if we didn’t let the immoral nature of our old flesh entice us to look at them?

Here you are church! Here is your day. Speak with compassion, conviction, and godly authority. Secure godly ministers to lead God’s church, not cleaver people in the ways of men.

We must stop being surprised by the failure of letting immoral people being the standard of morality and stop letting our children see them as their heroes. This year, instead of flooding the movie industry with our money, consider investing in books of real heroes. Introduce biographies of heroes of the faith to your children. These heroes are not perfect in all their ways, but they are governed by a holy God and redeemed to live differently.

 

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