Isaiah 29:13 These people come to Me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. (NIV)

At some point in my life, I realized that there would be a time when I would stand before the Lord God Almighty and give an account for what kind of husband I was, what kind of father, what kind of son, what kind of brother, what kind of man I was.  I wanted to be able to say that I was the best that I could be. However, I knew, in my heart, that I could not honestly do that.

So I began to try to aspire to something better.  I studied God’s Word and I attempted to say and do the things that seemed honorable.  It was a struggle.  There are many reasons for this struggle, but ultimately and sadly the underlying reason was I did not set my heart to come close to God’s.  At least, I didn’t all the time.  At times, that made my goal little more than lip service.

There is an old story about two little boys that saw the one’s grandmother reading the Bible. The first boy said, “Why does your grandmother read the Bible all the time?” The second boy replied, “I think she’s studying for her final exam.”

As I have gotten older, I have become aware of my own mortality.  With that came the additional observation that each of us has a very limited time to get our mouths and actions, but mostly our heart in the right place.  As David wrote in the Psalms, “Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me.”

Isaaih 19:2,3  I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian – brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.  The Egyptians will lose heart and I will bring their plans to nothing. (NIV)

America is on the cusp of losing heart. We are teetering between life and death, light and dark, blessings and curses.  Americans are turning against Americans, brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, race against race, creed against creed, and religion against religion.  There is an ever increasing rip in the fabric of our society.

If we are to avoid catastrophic consequences than a mending must occur.  We as Christians should me on the front-lines of repairing and rebuilding.  After all, Christ said that everyone will know us by our love for one another.  Unfortunately, at this point in time, many of us Christians are the very purveyors of this internal strife.

When Jesus was born the angels announced, “Glory be to God in the highest, peace on earth and good will toward man.”

If this is what messengers of Heaven announced with the arrival of the Christ, should our goal be any less?

Isaiah 8:12 Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear and do not dread it. (NIV)

We live in the age of conspiracy, or at the very least, the age of conspiracy theories. There is the Kennedy Conspiracy, the Roswell Conspiracy, the Vaccine Conspiracy, the Illumanati, the Trilateral Commission, the Lincoln Conspiracy, the Clinton Conspiracies, the Russian Altered Election Conspiracy, the Fake News Conspiracy. Oh my, i even heard from a reliable source that Captain America was really a Nazi-loving member of Hydra.

So what is true and what isn’t? What if we aren’t paranoid, but “They” are really out to get us?

Our enemies, both physical and spiritual, cannot keep truth hidden forever.  However, we can become so inundated with conspiracies and conspiracy theories (and news and fake news and fake fake news) that it has become nearly impossible to detect what is true and what is not. (Is that the Conspiracy Conspiracy?)

Of course, this applies to our entire belief system.  There are so many conflicted beliefs, facts, and opinions, it’s hard to focus on what really is true.  Our focus needs focus (apologies to the Karate Kid).

Paul writes in First Corinthians, “I resolve to know nothing among you except Christ Jesus and Him crucified.”  Yes, we should be concerned about what is going on in the world; but our focus must always be primarily on what is above.

Isaiah 8:13 goes on to tell us, “You are to regard only the Lord of Hosts as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be held in awe.”

What if things go amiss?

Call 911.  Psalm 91:1, that is. “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”

Song of Songs 7:4c Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon. (NIV)

I just read through the “Song of Songs” in the Bible. On the surface it appears to be letters between two lovers, possibly King Solomom and his bride.  Some commentators suggest it is, if not completely, at least partially, allegorical. The idea is that the deeper meaning reflects Jesus and His bride, the church.

Most of the book is dedicated to heaping compliments on the physical charms of one lover to the other. However, the above verse stood out to me because, well…  if I told my wife her nose was like the tower of Lebanon, I don’t think she would take that as a compliment. In fact, I’m not sure anyone would.

After I had a good time laughing to myself, I started thinking. The truth is: when we truly love someone, we love them in spite of their imperfections. Sometimes, it is those very things that help us endear that someone to our hearts.

I believe that is exactly how God sees us.  I’m not talking about gross sin here.  I’m talking about our human frailities and vulnerabilities.  God loves us in spite of them and just maybe because of them, He has to show us a little extra love.