Christians can change current affairs

Today’s newspaper stories make my heart heavy. Yesterday offered some good news (a surprise), but I could find nothing good this morning, except that the price of crude oil took a drop. However, the person who wrote that story made it sound like bad news also.

Now as I read 1 Timothy 2:1-6, I’ve no problem agreeing that there is one thing I can do about all the calamities, disasters, and horrible things people are doing to one another. While educators and philosophers try to come up with something that will move the multitudes to change direction, God offers me this one option to ensure that we live in peace and see people make godly decisions.

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.

No one can convince another person of the truth that is in Jesus Christ. We can share, talk, argue, debate, even live out a godly life before them, but unless God works in their heart, they will follow the dictates of their own selfishness. They might know that they are being selfish, but without an alternative, they are stuck in that rut.

The headlines and stories in the news reveal the results of that rut. All the bad news is rooted in a “me-first” and an “I know what I am doing” attitude. Those who are bent on “my way” wind up in trouble. A woman dies because she didn’t wear shoes in a jungle and stepped on poisonous insects. A man sits in prison for life because he wanted to have some fun and killed a person. A government is in debt because those in charge were more concerned about “me right now” than “us in the future.” The list goes on and on and on.

I could get on a soapbox, but God doesn’t tell me to do that. Instead, He says that I need to pray. He uses four words to describe how I should pray, indicating the scope and importance of talking to Him about the needs I see in the world. I cannot speak to kings or those in authority and get very far, but I can speak to God who says, “The kings’ heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Proverbs 21:1).

I don’t understand the ways of God though. Since He can turn the hearts of kings, why doesn’t He turn all of them toward Himself? Why does He allow African rulers to destroy their own people? Or leaders in the Middle East form cells to terrorize the rest of the world? And why do those who claim to know Him behave in ways that seem to mock their own claims?

But God is God. He wants all to be saved. He wants all to know the truth. There is only One of Him, and there is only One mediator who can make peace between all persons and Himself. He sent Jesus Christ, God the Son, who pulled on humanity like I pull on a pair of jeans. He is our Mediator. He purchased our sin-captured souls with His own blood. We do have a Redeemer. We do have a way out of our selfishness.

I’m careful as I read the paper. I know that adage “there but for the grace of God go I” is true. I know how difficult it is to say no to sin, to shed selfishness, to shun my me-focus. Even more, I know how difficult it is to continually pray for all people. I’d rather write, or make quilts, or work in the garden, or even clean toilets, than do the work of prayer.

Prayer is difficult, but when God’s people pray, things happen (or don’t happen). We have a job to do. We may not connect the peace, or the lack of peace in the world to our praying, but God says there is a connection. When I read the news and am distressed by it, this is God’s signal to me to get on my knees and do my part to make a difference.