Patriotism

I realize this topic is going to be fiery so let's not get to passionate in arguing it out.

Now, a couple of my friends have been arguing about this, and one of them asked for my thoughts (yes, you two know who you are).

America. A beautiful, wealthy country. Sweet land of liberty. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We have countless blessings here. Plenteous food, cars, cell phones, and all the things we could ever want or need. What an amazing place.

So let's praise God for what we have, for the countless ways He has blessed us.

But we also have imorality and greed. We couldn't care less about the rest of the world. This horrid place worships the money we have. We live our lives to gain more and more. We are obsessed with sex and lust. What a horrible place.

So let's get out of here! Let's escape the evil sin and corruption.

I've had these previous two ideas war within my mind. I'm thankful for what I have here, but I want to escape the corruption here. I'm sick of being bombarded with the solicitations of idols, sex and money. In modern American culture, it's all that matters. When I complain saying things like, "I want to leave." or "I hate the evil here," my dad puts me in my place, "You've never lived in poverty, you don't know what it's like to live in dirty squalid conditions." If you know me, you know my dad's from India. He grew up in one of the most poverty-filled countries in the world. Having worked hard to get here, he knows how significant the blessings of America and its freedom are.

So where do we find the balance? Is it wrong to be discontented with this country, despite its blessings? Why do we enjoy the riches we have and complain about them at the same time?

Many people think that they will escape the evils of this country by leaving it, but they forget a significant principle we see both in our knowledge of the world, and in the Word. Americans are greedy, immoral and worship money, Haitians unashamedly worship the devil, Indians deliberately steal money and food directly from the poor, the Chinese persecute and attack the church. Welcome the the world. The world is corrupt. As much as super-patriots wouldn't like to admit, America is part of it.

Be thankful for the blessings you have here. Be thankful, but not unwilling to give them up. Don't worship them.

How do you know you aren't worshipping the wealth? Look at your reaction when someone asks for money; assess your heart when you see someone in need. Can you sacrifice your fancy new toy, so someone else can eat today?

As regards the other corruptions in America: like I said above, the world is corrupt. As the much quoted verse goes, "we are in the world but not of the world."

Everything Is Meaningless

Someone once told me that the book of Ecclesiastes was depressing. So until a few years ago, I stayed away from it. It was one of those books in the Bible I didn't expect to learn much from, given to the same lot as some of the books of the law: not very enriching (in fact, the analysis of God's requirements of holiness for His people is actually quite enriching.)

The repeated theme in Ecclesiastes can be summed up in three words: "everything is meaningless." Depressing, right? Everything you do on earth is lost when you die. In essence, your life is meaningless. No matter what you do, you still die. People are always oppressed. They are always greedy.

As I'm sure you have guessed, the fact that I started this post saying I was told the book was depressing means that I plan to contradict that statement. So here I go:

Although not defined by depression, this year has had its admittedly depressing moments. In those moments it takes the realization that everything is meaningless to comfort me. I am meaningless; my life is meaningless. I will not last. Because I will not last, my problems will not last. All of my worthless pursuits in life do not matter. With that realization, I don't even need painful situations to improve themselves. I simply realize that my problems don't matter, that God is everything. Ecclesiastes concludes by telling us to remember our Creator. To seek God with our lives. Everything else is meaningless. That includes girls, academics, parents, stress, worries. It's all meaningless. It doesn't matter. Only God matters. And trust me, God is far better than any of these things. So only let your heart be troubled if you find yourself at odds with God, (which we all tooften do). Focus your heart on the One who matters. He will take care of these meaningless peripheral things that we focus our worries and prayers on. Always remember that we and our pursuits are meaningless. The only meaningful pursuit is to follow God.