FROM THE KEYBOARD

Though we are called to bring heaven to earth, we must be realistic and know that earth is not heaven. You see, death, darkness, and decay will be erased when the Lord returns. In the meantime, because of the cross, death has no sting, darkness is no longer king, and salt is what we are told to bring. So let us continue to carry forth the light of Christ, and as we do, let us remember the words of Jesus in John 8:12: "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice, there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock, it is opened” (C.S. Lewis). Let us, therefore, make it our heart's desire to be done with our own will so as to allow God's will to be done. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:9-10).

The more we distance ourselves from God, the more God distances Himself from us. Not in a omnipresence sense but in a present tense. You see, when God is in none of our thoughts, then none of our actions will be in God. But when we draw near to God, He draws near to us, transforming our hearts and guiding our actions. As James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."

The heart that is set upon the joy of heaven cannot be beset by the sorrow of earth. For when our focus is on things above, the temporary trials and tribulations of this world lose their power to overwhelm us. As it is written: "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2).

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?" (Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826). The answer is no. Liberty is not secure without a firm belief in and adherence to the Lord of liberty. As it is written in 2 Corinthians 3:17, "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

A nation becomes great or gross based on what it does with God’s grace. In the words of Alexis de Tocqueville (1835), “I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers – and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it..