Proud Nation

An insightful diagnosis and prognosis from Dan Edelen at Cerulean Sanctum

I hear a lot of laments online about why America is in trouble as a nation. There’s a reason for that trouble, a remarkably simple one. It’s found in this verse of the Bible: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  —James 4:6b ESV America, as a nation, is too proud. And while that would be enough, we are not only proud, but we are proud of our sin. We parade sin everywhere. We call evil good and good evil. We establish new standards of depravity in our nation and sign wickedness into law. And we are proud of ourselves for doing so. If Americans ever want to see our country become great again, we need to become humble. We need to move from taking pride in sin to being disgusted by it. We need to stop calling the worst atrocities good and start calling evil for what it truly is, evil. If we don’t stop being proud—and especially of the depraved things we say, think, and do—then there will be no grace poured out by God upon America. Instead, we will find ourselves on the wrong side of an unwinnable war. Because no one who opposes God wins. Ever.

So Flawed, So Loved

“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to died for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”

             — Tim Keller The Reason For God  (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 181

Hat Tip: Of First Importance