We Need God

Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for us - He offered His life so that in Him our sin debt might be paid
and that we might be free. 1st Peter 2 states:
21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
22 "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth";
23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.

Jesus did not sin - not once.  He lived a perfect life.  He wasn't just a good teacher or a moral man, which, of course, He was, but He was God who came in the flesh, to live as an example to us and to die so that humanity might be saved.  And, because He defeated death, we have the opportunity to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, to know the presence of Jesus each and every day.  The tomb is empty and our hearts can be full of His love and joy.

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We have been entrusted with the sacred treasures of Almighty God - including the grace of God, expressed through Jesus and His death on the cross, the wisdom of God, and the power of the Holy
Spirit. 1st Corinthians 2 says:
6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

It seems that there are a lot of folks these days that want to fundamentally change America - now, change can be good, reform can make us better, but you find some in the media whose idea of change has to do with removing or denying the presence of God.

If you are looking for examples, CNN might be a good example; what was once called the Cable News Network has become the Cable Propaganda Network. Witness this example from prime-time anchor Chris Cuomo, as documented by CBN News:

CNN’s Chris Cuomo closed a recent program by saying we didn’t need help from the Almighty, instead we just need to “believe in one another” and “do the right thing for yourself and your community” and that would make things better for the country.

The anchor said, “You don’t need help from above. It’s within us.”

This is not the first time that Cuomo denied the power of God - in responding to deadly shootings in 2018, he said:

“And prayer? You think leaving it to God is the answer? We pray for strength, we pray for wisdom, for resolve, but we clearly don’t want to act on any of those here,” he said, adding, “So what are you praying for?”

You may remember a few months ago, as the number of New York's COVID-19 cases was decreasing, Cuomo's brother, Andrew, the Governor of New York, denied that the hand of God was involved, for which he received a rebuke from Franklin Graham.

And, you find Cuomo's colleague at CNN, Don Lemon, who presented an unbiblical view of Jesus recently, according to Fox News:

"Jesus Christ, if that's who you believe in, Jesus Christ, admittedly was not perfect when he was here on this earth," Lemon told his colleague Chris Cuomo during "CNN Tonight with Don Lemon" on Monday. "So why are we deifying the founders of this country, many of whom owned slaves?"

Lemon drew comments from Robert Jeffress, who is heard weekdays on Faith Radio:

"Don Lemon's comments are, first of all, heretical," Jeffress, the pastor of 14,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, told Fox News, "and it contradicts the most basic tenet of the Christian faith and demonstrates how tone-deaf the left is to faith issues."

"Our founding fathers, like all of us, were imperfect human beings," Jeffress added, "but Jesus Christ was different than any other man that lived, and as the founder of our faith, he had to be perfect."

Former NFL Super Bowl champion coach Tony Dungy, also heard weekdays on Faith Radio, tweeted out:

I’m sorry Mr Lemon but just who “admitted” that Jesus Christ was not perfect here on earth? Not anyone who believes the Bible. Not anyone who trusts in Jesus as their savior. I’m not sure the point you’re making but your premise is dead wrong. That was the point in Jesus coming! https://t.co/KXUS9Z0GLA

— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) July 9, 2020

Let's just get this out there - it is true, none of our respective histories are perfect - that is why Jesus came.  And, He had to be perfect, so that He could be a perfect sacrifice for our sins, an acceptable substitute to pay the penalty that had been assessed to each human being because of sin. Our Redeemer is perfect, so that He can adequately wipe away the sin debt and make us clean.

We also recognize that with COVID-19, race relations, or any number of problems that we find in our world, a world full of imperfect humans, that world does not offer answers - but Jesus does.  So, we have to ask ourselves where we are going to get the answers we need, to derive the satisfaction for which we yearn.  We have to make sure that we are not relying on ourselves, but on the Lord who gave Himself for us.

Finally, we know that the spirit of the age is blinding people to the truth of the gospel; and we as believers have to make sure we are not buying into it.  The news media, by and large, is not the place to go to find hope, and human frailty is so often on display.  We need hope, we need answers, and we can communicate hope in Christ and Godly wisdom to this world.