“¶“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Turn back and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations…… in order that the house of Israel may no longer wander from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Thus they will be My people, and I shall be their God,” ’ declares Lord Yahweh.”” Ezekiel 14:6, 11 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/ezk.14.6-11.LSB

I was struck again yesterday by a friend’s political post concerning the corruption in Washington. Indeed, there is much evil there and everywhere politically in our world. My response to his post is my typical response to all those in the church who lament the corruption they see in our society. The evil we see is the result of the church not doing its job to make disciples on the earth, teaching everyone to obey everything Jesus commanded. We, the church, have failed to obey God by sacrificing for the kingdom of God so that the world would live in the knowledge and obedience to God. We are the leaven to influence the world for Christ by always walking in His ways and insisting all people do likewise. This insistence is not to come by argument or force but through love and service while proving the wisdom of God by living in obedience to the commands of God. Our idols of pleasure and possessions find us as restless, hopeless, and purposeless as the pagans who pursue the same things with the same results. We, the church, are to die to ourselves, giving our lives away so that people can hear, see, and believe the gospel and be reconciled to God. In living this way, this death to self way, we find life. We find our greatest joy, meaning, and significance. In losing our lives, we find them not in trying to keep them as the world teaches. A better society is the fruit of an obedient church that loves God first and most demonstrated by loving our neighbors as ourselves through reconciling all men to Christ for salvation.