The Devotional - 15

The Devotional

Comment:

Hiding from the enemy is a normal operation of a submarine in unfriendly waters. Once some years ago the sub I was on was doing this very thing. The enemy was all around us, surface ships and their subs were on a training exercise and there we were in the mix, only as we thought; undetected. As their training was drawing to close we decided to leave the area. To our surprise as we abruptly turned away from the group we found that we were being tailed by one of their subs that had been hiding in our baffles. The word baffle as it relates to submarine jargon is much the same as the definition in the dictionary. A baffle is a screen that blocks noise such as one might find along a busy highway to prevent the neighborhood from hearing the sound of traffic. For the sub, it is the vision/noise normally seen by sonar being blocked by water turbulence from the propellers (screws).  

Challenge:

Have you noticed where our priorities in the United States are these days? Education, young people, entertainment, hobbies, sports and career. And some are saying “well what is wrong with that?” are these not the main avenues of important and moral or immoral pursuits as we travel to and from the crossroads of life in the hunt… of the living? Yes but did you notice, left out of the mix is, liberty and happiness. Also you may think it is silly of me to compare the “baffling experience above” with our modern irreligious lifestyle in the “land of the free and the home of the brave” then again, maybe you did not notice… baffling isn’t it? That is the rub!

Matthew 6:22-23 and 24

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

We live in baffling days… the enemy is all around us, actually we see the threat! We throw dollars at many liberal champagnes, we educate our young to understand all of the secularisms that cross our avenues of life. We idolize the people of entertainment and sports as religious icons. Our hobbies are willing distractions, like baffles on the horse (blinders we call these things). Our careers are designed for (simple mindedness) to teach ignorance rather than to advance human wisdom and integrity and we are a drug induced nation to keep us calm.

What we do not see is what is following us in the baffles, and here it is: “No one can serve two masters; for either he (or she) will hate the one and love the other, or else he (or she) will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and riches!

As a nation we have lost our way, we as individuals need to change course of our direction and leave the enemy waters; we have stayed to long; the enemy has found us vulnerable and he is ready to pounce. We as a whole cannot cause the nation to move in the right direction, but we can individually do what we need to do. National repentance cannot come unless YOU and I are willing to take the first step and show the way back. The way back to the pursuit of liberty and happiness for all, is found in the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:25-34.