The Miracle: It's time to get honest...

By Don Cobb

If any change is going to take place in America, it will start with the humble admission that we've got problems, personally and nationally. The reason we have problems nationally is because we have problems personally. Granted, it's been fun, this past 40 years. Let's take a minute to remind ourselves of what 4 decades of self-will-run-riot has gotten us:

• We have the freedom to 'do as thou wilt,' answering to and being accountable to no one but ourselves, and oftentimes not even to ourselves.
  
  
• We've abandoned our neighbors, most of us no longer even knowing our neighbors' names or who is living next door to us.
  
  
• American moms have killed more than 50 million of their babies by abortions
  
  
• Children are now killing children — which never happened prior to the 1960's
  
  
• Elected officials have voted themselves so many pay raises that you can get rich being a public servant now.
  
  
• We've voluntarily given our right to freedom of speech, codepending those whose feelings might be hurt if we say things about them which they find offensive. It's a crime now to insult some groups publicly, specifically called a "hate crime." No longer do we have the right to freedom of speech in America. We gave it up due to leaning on our understanding and limited wisdom.
  
  
• The school system has to settle for crumbs off the floor while billions of dollars are being poured into the government behemoth that is quickly consuming all of America's financial resources as Socialism is being put into place in America.
  
  
• We're sliding down the slippery slope to Socialism, despite its complete failure in its promises of security, prosperity and equality, having delivered only poverty, misery, and tyranny. (USSR, China, Cuba — the list is long of failed attempts at Socialism). We seem to think we can make Socialism work where others have failed. Arrogance and ignorance, thy name is American politics today.
  
  
• Rather than enjoying the freedom of religion insured by our Constitution, America appears to have become a fairly Godless nation now, worshipping the environment and movie/rock stars, leaning on our own limited understanding and wisdom as social problems mount higher and higher, without any end in sight. There truly is, however, no savior among the Hollywood or Washington elite who has any real answers for us.
  
  

Ah yes, this freedom to be our own person without the benefit of basic Spiritual principles has paid off in some very obvious ways, hasn't it? No one tells us what to do. Of course, there is no longer any semblance of accountability either, as personal responsibility has been replaced by the blame game. Human sexuality is the dominant marketing tool these days, as modesty has taken a back seat to sexual depravity and blatant sexual innuendo, even in Prime Time. Even children are being sexualized on television and no one is saying a thing about it. To a great degree, honesty is no longer of any real value to our society, being replaced by posturing and looking good. But that is going to be a problem if we're truly interested in seeing The Miracle take place in our personal lives and/or in our nation. Honesty must now become a priority.

The only way to overcome personal problems, issues of an emotional, financial, or relational nature is to humbly confess that the problem(s) and/or issues exist. If, for example, your marriage isn't all that you know it can be, the solution is not to blame your spouse. If you have an eating problem which is causing obesity, a drug or alcohol problem, or are currently being unfaithful to your spouse, blaming one's life circumstances only serves to facilitate the problem, not solve it. If your children have disconnected from you and are rebellious to the point that you don't feel like you know them any longer, the solution is not to point the finger at them. No, our problems are our problems. They are ours to be miserable about, and they are ours to solve. Being honest about this is essential if we are to see any real change in our lives, relationships, circumstances or in our nation. Our problems start and end with us. Only we, through humility, honesty, willingness, faith, prayer and perseverance, can right what is wrong in our lives and in America today.

So we've humbled ourselves enough to honestly admit we have a problem. That is a very good start. Next, we'll take a look at a couple of other Spiritual principles which serve to facilitate The Miracle, nothing short of a profound change in one's personality and in our nation. The next principles we will put into practice are Faith and Trust. Faith, almost a dirty word in America today, is virtually everywhere one looks. One needn't be religious in order to be faith-filled. We have faith that the lights will go on when we flip the switch, that our car will start when we turn the key, and that nothing is going to kill us when we walk out that front door every morning. If we didn't have faith in all of these things, we wouldn't bother doing them. We'll talk about how to put Faith and Trust into motion in our effort to see our personal lives, and so our nation, get right-side up once again, some of us for the first time ever.

© Don Cobb