Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm, um, Zach Weirock, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, where has decency gone? This is prompted by an op ed I read in the Washington Post by Mitch Daniels, who's the former governor of. Of Indiana, my home state. And what Governor Daniels writes is that he's concerned about civility and really how it's largely absent from American public life. Public discourse, he argues, has deteriorated. It's full of profanity, childish insults, personal attacks. Uh, it's just become commonplace to say the most ridiculous and most outlandish and most awful things about your political opponents or those who disagree with you. Both parties are engaged in gerrymandering, redistricting just to make sure their party stays in power, cronyism, um, uh, legal retaliation. And Governor Daniels is saying, when are we gonna say enough? Not just we as the voting public, but when are elected officials gonna say, you know what? I'm gonna do what's right. I'm gonna choose what's civil, even if it's politically naive, even if it costs me. And I think this is a great question because, uh, I feel like this is the kind of thing that most of us are lamenting. I mean, most of us are. Are saying, uh, hey, we don't love the thing that either political party says. We don't love how nasty and just vile things have gotten, but most of us, I think, feel pretty powerless to do anything about it. So I want to agree with Governor Daniels, but I also want to argue some pastoral counsel for how you and I can actually participate in. In a renewal of civility. Let's just start here. Moral collapse, which I think is what we're in, at least as it relates to public discourse. It follows a rejection of God. In other words, the writer of Proverbs says in Proverbs 9:10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. There are times where it may seem like being nasty actually gets something done. Being nasty actually gets us a win accomplishes something. But that kind of thinking places me at the center. It makes it so that being awful to someone is acceptable if it produces the outcome that I want. The fear of the Lord is about living with the reminder that God sees that God knows, and ultimately God judges. It's the one backstop against justifying moral behavior simply because it produces a win. It's kind of like I tell my kids when they're Growing up, I say, you, you can lie to me and get away with it. You shouldn't lie. Not because I'll catch you. You shouldn't lie because there's a God who sees everything he knows and one day you'll answer to him. So one of the ways Christians can participate is to start realizing that God is our scorekeeper. He's the one who sees us, who knows what we're thinking, who knows what we're saying and actually holds us accountable. It's not about whether or not it produces a win. It's not about whether or not the other side did it or, or whether or not we even think we can, by changing, accomplish any good. It's about what does God want from us? The second thing I'll say is that we gotta start expecting more out of our leaders. Political leaders, school leaders, church leaders, social leaders. Leaders should be reflecting righteousness. Proverbs 29:2 says, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. One of our minimum standards for leaders should be decorum, civility, uh, uh, being kind. You might roll your eyes at that and say, no, I want leaders who get the job done. But that kind of short sighted thinking isn't going to take us anywhere. It's like hoping your kids marry someone who goes to work every day, even if they treat them like garbage, because hey, at least there'll be food on the table. That isn't going to work for very long. You don't want that for your kids, you shouldn't want that for our country. Leaders do actually reflect our righteousness. Meaning if we have wicked, vile, nasty leaders, what kind of culture do you think we get? And by the way, that leads me to my third point, which is to say Christians actually do have responsibility here. Matthew 5, Jesus says, you're the salt of the earth, you're the city on a hill, you're the light, uh, that shouldn't be hidden under a basket. What he's saying is the world goes as Christians go. I actually find this really indicting because I think what Jesus is saying to us in is we don't have the world the Republicans build, we don't have the world the Democrats build. We have the world that we as Christians build. If we hide out in our homes and we refuse to play the part of salt or of light or of uh, being the city on a hill, we refuse to live in such a way that it makes it obvious there's a better and different path going forward, then the world we get is a disintegrating decaying world. And that's on us. If a generation, uh, refuses to play the part of salt and light, then it gets a dark and decaying world. And that leads me to my last point. There is a way forward, and you're not gonna like it. And the reason I know that is because I don't like it, is repentance. Only repentance can restore society. 2 Chronicles 7:14. God says to Israel, if my people will humble themselves, I will heal their land. Now, that's a promise to a particular group, but it's a bigger promise of God. God is always looking for who will put their hand up and say, I'm the problem. I've blown it. Start renewal with me. Friends, I'm telling you, a path to civility is to own what you've said, that you shouldn't own what you've done, that you shouldn't go seek forgiveness. Because even in that, we're breaking down the lines, breaking down the walls that we use to excuse all the awful things we say. Listen. Enough. Enough. It is not okay. And to be nasty, it is not okay to be unloving or unkind. Let's bring decency back, and let's do it under the banner of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.