ADVENT 10 (Lilies): Who is Our Provider?

Welcome in to Day 10 of our 25-day Christmas Advent-ure, as we continue to walk through a variety of symbols that are related to Jesus. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus used symbolism to illustrate God's amazing care for us. He said in Matthew 6, verses 28 and 29: “‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.’”

In this passage, Jesus is addressing how we are clothed and underscoring the importance of relying on God's provision. We can recognize that God gives us provisions - spiritually, certainly, but we can also trust Him for physical provisions.  

And, other areas, as well, such as the areas of mental and emotional.  And, we have to be devoted to thinking Biblically, not allowing the world's ideas to corrupt and control us. 

I came across an article on The Christian Post website that can reinforce the notion of depending on the Lord for mental toughness.  The article states that the U.S. Department of Education is disproportionately handing out penalties against Christian higher education, relating:

The American Principles Project, a conservative think-tank, published a report earlier this month that cites the department’s Office of Enforcement actions against Christian schools.

According to the report, although Christian colleges and universities have fewer than 10% of students in the U.S., they make up around 70% of the penalties imposed by the Office of Enforcement.

The Policy Director for APP, Jon Schweppe, was quoted in a statement that said:

“As our report details, the Biden-Harris Department of Education has been engaged in a long-running scheme to punish Christian colleges that are ideologically opposed to the left’s agenda. The unfair targeting of these institutions has been egregious, and it needs to stop immediately..."

The article relates that already the federal Department of Education has pushed back on those charges.  And it relates that President-Elect Trump has expressed a desire to shutter that federal agency, and a U.S. Senator has introduced legislation to abolish the DOE.

The statement on the APP website charged the Department's Office of Enforcement with "advancing the...administration’s woke agenda, stating...

...the Department’s Office of Enforcement also targeted two of the nation’s most prominent Christian universities — Grand Canyon University and Liberty University — which resulted in record-level fines worth more than all penalties imposed over the past seven years combined.

At least 12 Christian colleges have been the target of excessive penalties or banned from receiving federal student aid; by comparison, no Ivy League school has been the recipient of punitive action by the Office of Enforcement. The average fine against a Christian school for a Clery Act violation was $815,000, compared to $228,571 against public and private institutions.

This can certainly be discouraging for Christian schools, who receive taxpayer funding - through the Federal Student Aid program, as the APP report points out.  Therefore, these schools, since they receive federal funds, can have governmental oversight exercised over them.  And, if the agenda is not favorable toward the teaching of Christian principles, well, the door is open for intrusive officials to clamp down on these schools that embrace, to some extent, a differing ideology. 

There are distinct purposes for government that are outlined in the Bible, and we appreciate the services that those who work in our federal, state, and municipal governments to serve their communities for the right reasons. But, we recognize that some are doing it for the wrong reasons, and put themselves at odds with the good of the community by restricting the free expression of religious faith. 

We also recognize that, culturally speaking, we may have looked to the government as our provider, rather than to the Lord, and by so doing, we have found that the size and scope of government has increased.  The Church has been charged with cultural transformation by reaching out to those in their communities they are called to serve. 

Jesus taught us to look to God as our provider, the one who clothes the lilies of the field.  We can set the example of trusting in Him and being generous so that others might come face-to-face with God's blessings.  In this season in which we reflect on the generous nature of God, we can demonstrate to those with whom we interact a benevolent God, who loves abundantly and unconditionally, whose ways are right and true.