Desensitized

Have you notice the change or the decline of Western Civilization or have you been desensitized to it?  I have been around for a while, long enough to have seen the changes that have taken place.  In the early fifties, if some of the things were aired on T.V. like they are today; the violence, crude talk, profanity, nudity and so on, there would have been such an outcry that they would have been taken off the air in a short time but today it seems like anything is acceptable.  Prayer and Bible studies were the norm in schools and many other places and also encouraged in our Nation’s Capital.  There were many more churches and many more people in attendance and the gospel was being preached and many were being saved, totally sold out and being born-again.  

Our nation was founded on freedom of religion and many of our forefathers were committed Christians who held great stock in the Word of God and lived by that Word.  The Lord’s blessings were on our nation and we were considered the greatest nation in the world.  Now it seems like Pandora’s Box has been flung wide open and we allow anything to take place.  Christianity, the church and the Bible were revered as good moral things bringing more stability to our nation which was needed and God was held in high esteem, but look where we are today and how far we have fallen.  God, His Word and the church have been misused and His name and His character have been humiliated and I believe we have gone from a blessed nation to one that has been cursed.  It is not like the trumpet hasn’t been sounded, warning us of what is taking place and what will be the outcome if things don’t change, but far too many of us have not listened and our nation is being shaken to the core.

I heard a story from Ravi Zacharias not long ago that went something like this: there was a prison, and I don’t remember the name of it, but it held mostly notorious prisoners and about 70 percent of the inmates were either on death row or had life sentences.  If you were put into that prison you were given a knife to defend yourself or you would not make it in there.  Then a new warden, who was a believer, took over the prison and he put Bibles in every cell and held Bible studies.  He had a Christian School built and because of the changes that were put in place, the place went from the worst to the best prison.  There was no foul language allowed in that prison from either prisoners or the staff.  Ravi said that you could take the prettiest girl through that prison and not hear any cat calls or any foul language.  If the Lord and His Word could make that much of a drastic change in these prisoners’ lives, why would we not want the Word and Bible study in our schools?  The Bible is the number one bestselling book in the nation and it is the most needed book also.

The problem is that so many people have been desensitized, thinking many of the things that have been tried and have failed miserably every time, will work this time.  When people exclude God, consequences will be the outcome and that is where we are and I’m afraid that far too many are too blind to see the writing on the wall.  When the Bible says we will reap what we sow, people better wake up and start listening and take these things to heart before it is too late to turn things around.  

I don’t like to say it but the church has a role to play in this also.  Many of us have been desensitized also.  Think about the places you go and the things you watch on your T.V. sets or at the movies.  What are your priorities and are you growing in your faith?  How much time are you spending in the Word and when was the last time you spent an hour in prayer.  I know it is important to minister to people, feeding, clothing and helping them with their needs, but, unless you have spent time in the Word and in prayer, praise and thanksgiving you will be spiritually bankrupt, and the thing that people need the most, you won’t be prepared to give them, which is the only hope of mankind and that is the good news.  If you are spiritually bankrupt because of being desensitized by not spending time with the Lord, what will you have to share?

People need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who died for their sins so that they can be forgiven and set free of their guilt and shame and to know that there is hope for them.  How will you be able to give someone an answer for the hope you have within you if you are not prayed up or spending time in the word and with the Lord?  When I write these things I am not just talking to the person that reads this but I am talking to myself also.  

Let me tell you a story of how desensitization works, this is my version of the story I heard.  If you were to drop a frog into boiling water it would jump out immediately but if you were to put him into cold water, he wouldn’t jump out and if you put a fire under the pot, he would boil to death and not even realize it was happening to him because he would be desensitized to the boiling water.  This is what is happening far too often in our society today and even in the church, it is in every realm and we are reaping the consequences of what was sowed.

Read what God’s Word says about this in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Something very important to think about!  Have a good day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!