The beautiful picture of this volcanic eruption is an image that might be instructive to us about the grand distractions that have entered our society through the political process.
Recently, in presidential politics and the statements of one of the owners of Chick-Fil-A who made public statements about his beliefs that he stated he upheld traditional views of marriage. This led to people filling their restaurants back in July and many celebrities, politicians and church leaders voicing their opinions about what was said.
A couple of months ago, President Obama stated that his personal understanding of marriage had “evolved” and that he now embraced gay couples marrying. Many of those in the media saw this as an attempt to dissuade his opponent, Mitt Romney, from speaking about the economy. It was a distraction of sorts.
Just a couple weeks ago, a Missouri candidate for Senator made some ignorant remarks about rape as it relates to pregnancy and abortion. The press and even the Republican party have gone after him mercilessly.
The point with all these issues is that they are temporary political hot potatoes. Yes, they all represent items the Bible clearly speaks to, but the central reason why a person accepts or rejects Jesus Christ is actually the central issue, as it relates to faith. These issues can become distracting issues, as they relate to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, but they are not the central issues of our world.
The central issue of life and faith–the one that determines heaven or hell in eternity–that’s how a person answers the question of whether Jesus is Lord. Is Jesus Lord?
Certainly, how you answer that question determines how you believe about much else, but if followers of Christ and the local church become obsessed with simply denouncing politicians or people in a certain life-style or a political party, we will lose the chance to ask that fundamental question about Jesus, as we will have become as distracted as the world is around us with the countless volcanic issues in our society.
Is Jesus Lord? That’s the question we must ask our world and for which we must live a convincing answer.