Singing or Doing? that is the Question...

   I went out for an early breakfast with a friend, and a lot of our conversation centered around the state of our country, especially the violence and lawlessness that make the headlines.

   I guess that every generation, as they think about the times that they grew up in, bemoan the fact that the current generation is somehow not as good, not as peaceful, not as moral and just not up to the standards that they were raised with.

   It seems to be true that there is more crime, more the absence of morality, more the disregarding of any authority and more corruption surrounding us in America, and, indeed, in the world that we hear about and see. Perhaps it is the media that focuses on the sensational, which features those negative values, but the constant need for "news", on a round-the-clock basis can drive that.

   Does each generation feel that the ones that come after it are worse? Is it just nostalgia, or a longing for more simple times that bring those feelings to the front? Have we advanced in the fields of technology, but regressed in terms of morality and justice?

   All of this may beg the greater question: "Is God pleased with the way we are headed?"

   And another: "What kind of a country and world will my grand kids grow up in?"

   The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 122:

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
May they prosper who love you.
⁷ May peace be within your walls,
And prosperity within your palaces.
⁸ For the sake of my brothers and my friends,
I will now say, “May peace be within you.”
   He said to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, his city, his country's capital, and we need to do the same for ours. But not only for peace and prosperity, but for a God-revering population, and a return to His ways. Peace and Prosperity will not cut it if we are heading in the wrong direction.

   I will continue to pray for our country and its leaders.

   I also know that the way to true peace is through obedience to His laws. Our own advancements will not bring it about, only His pleasure.

   We can sing with gusto, "God Bless America", and pray that it will come to pass, but we also need to realize that He does not bless us because we are Americans, He will bless us as we live in accordance to His ways and His will.

   May we sing, but also do.