Thoughts on September Grief

Earthly nations decay, and there is no exception. It's much easier to read about it in history, than to be in the middle of it happening. Nations are made of people,  and sin and death, the instruments of decay, hurt people. I am one. When, like decadent and luxurious Rome, nations topple, the people in them are hit with sudden grief. And just like many Americans, the people now buried in dust thought at the time that Babylon or Rome or the Caliphate would always be the world's power. Our nation hasn't toppled yet, but the worms are eating it - and that's both grievous and okay.

He who said "My kingdom is not of this world" is our King. His servants are safe both here and hereafter in His service, but perhaps we've forgotten what that kind of safety is. It's a safety that transcends anything a government can provide. A just government should provide safety for its citizens because it is right, but if we put our trust in it, we are wrong. We want a safe and righteous country and should pray for one, but we don't need one in order to be the witnesses of the risen Christ. If He sees us not doing a great job of witnessing for Him in a safe context of dignity and respectability, He is free to give us a dangerous context of misrepresentation and scorn, in which we can discover that we are still safe in His omnipotent love.

If we haven't wanted badly enough for Jesus to return, we might start feeling uncomfortable enough to start praying for it more earnestly. We might start feeling unsafe enough to stop worrying about our perceived safety and serving with more abandon the One who is a shield about us in all places.

Conservatives being depicted as Klan members in Facebook post 9-14-2025

We could curl up in grief and demonize our opponents. They are blinded by their unwillingness to acknowledge Christ as Lord, and so they demonize us as His representatives. It makes them feel in the right, and it hurts us deeply, when the Lord's people have enjoyed decades of national respectability. We are tempted to fight to prove them wrong and get our dignity back. We could list their monstrosities of error and could scorn them as miserable liars. Or we can choose to lay down our lives for them as people worth the Redeemer's blood. For them, we can risk proclaiming the gospel narrative because it has a power to convert and redeem that surpasses every reasonable argument. The dividing line must come at the cross of Christ. Let them know that it is for Christ's sake that they hate us, and not our food choice, school choice, or political choices. Only proclaiming the gospel itself draws the line that gets us hated as Christ's people. Being hated merely as a white conservative is not worth it. Being hated for Christ's sake is worth it. But do they know where we stand?

Make no mistake at this juncture. Those who serve this world may be in the guise of the left or the right, though the right is more sympathetic at this point in history to the things Christians value. We must not confuse the temporary blessings of God's grace with our eternal calling as His people. We must not be willing to sacrifice our love for the lost (including people on the left who hate us) speaking words of hatred against them because we want our nation back the way it was. We want Christ's kingdom to come. We want people on the left and the right to worship Him. Our pursuit of justice should be done as a service to God who calls nations to do justice, and not motivated by idolatrous fear for our comfort. If justice is taken from us, it's not the end of our Christian life. It's the next step in our calling to follow Him who was rejected of men. When He returns, no one will reject Him, and it will be worth everything to know that we are His.