You Forgot about Brett Kavanaugh

Photo Credit: By The Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States https://www.oyez.org/justices/brett_m_kavanaugh, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74992411

Twenty-one months is either a blink or an eternity, depending on who you ask. It's also the length of time that has passed since the United States Senate Judiciary Committee held a four-day hearing to examine Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. They grilled the nominee under the pretenses of discovering whether or not Christine Blasey-Ford was telling the truth when she accused him of sexual assault. 

The whole ordeal was a circus. I watched some of it live from my office desk, listened to portions of it live on the radio, and read countless articles about the situation as it developed. Republicans and Democrats were at each others' necks for weeks leading up to the hearing and the days leading up to the Senate vote were tense. It's the only thing our national media could discuss for an extended period of time, along with most citizens, each of whom holding some sort of opinion on the matter.

And you had probably forgotten all about it before reading this. It was less than two years ago, but for many of us, that particular fiasco is buried under piles and piles of other current events that have popped up since. If you hadn't forgotten about Kavanaugh, it's likely that you've stopped following the story. The fervor you had about what should have happened in that peculiar national moment has massively overshadowed your dedication to following up on Kavanaugh's performance as a judge of the highest court in the land.

We've been attracted to other headlines of the day as we've been assaulted with media bytes. We've allowed ourselves to be drawn in and we've formed our opinions. And while doing so, some of us have even been enticed by the smells of the next dumpster fire over yonder, often running after the next compelling story of the hour.

What are we zealous for, really?

I'm bringing this up today because I'd like for the American Christian living in the year 2020 to consider how phenomenal all of this is. Believers in Jesus Christ are called to "set their minds on things above." This means that Christians -- even American Christians -- are to be consumed with thoughts eternal. Our spirits should be magnetized to topics of infinite value, the matters that will still be relevant when we all get to heaven.

Yet, today, Christians are giving themselves (and very nearly all of themselves) over to momentary passions and causes. News breaks about something that raises eyebrows and word of it spreads online, causing many souls to become obsessed with a particular rallying cry that sticks around about as long as a spring snow. All other affections are simply put on hold while a singular expression of some eternal issue captivates the hearts of God's people. This is not the way it should be. 

Worst of all, the church -- made up of redeemed eternal souls -- often seeks cures for the disease-of-the-day without an eternal perspective. The Word of God is ignored due to its perceived irrelevance while those brought forth by that word appeal to the ever inconsistent and hypocritical world. Sociologists, biologists, and politicians are heralded as beacons of light to a church asleep in the dark. If only we'd get with the movement of the day, we'd finally acquire some sort of peace in the land.

Friends: We cannot begin to experience the eternal blessings of the eternal God if we're laying aside eternal truths in exchange for temporary distractions.

In the pages of the Bible God has given us all that we need to know for life and godliness. It is Holy Scripture and in it we hear from our Maker the words of life. It doesn't matter if you're conservative or liberal, rural or urban, for Black Lives Matter or against it -- your starting point has to be God's revelation as a foundation for your reasoning. Reject all other origins of philosophy, including your instincts. Start with God and seek after that which is above.

As we obsess over the word of God, we are then able to make sense of the world around us and our fight looks a lot less like war with flesh and blood and more like a spiritual battle. We're able to discern the spirits among us and provide genuine answers to awful and complex problems. We'll be so heavenly-minded that we actually will be some earthly good. Tragically, much of the church is so earthly-minded that they're actually no earthly good.

This isn't a call to ignorance. Follow the news and stay up-to-date.

This is a call to holy thinking. If you allow the world around you to continually divert your attention away from eternity, you'll find yourself so parched and dry that your life will only be fruitless. Permit the word of God to water your soul by the power of the Spirit that you might be a strong and healthy plant for the Lord, bearing fruit for His glory.