The Great Recession’s A Great Spiritual Wake-up Call

Editor’s Note: This OP-ED piece is from a regular CBD reader and commentator.  We like this writing because it’s raw and emotional.  While we don’t agree on all points, we love the Truefaced nature of this article and we want to encourage more believers to express their feelings. It’s not about all Kingdom people believing the same thing – that’s boring – it’s about agreeing on the person of Christ and being brothers and sisters with a heart to love this world like Father does.  Thanks for this submission, Curt.

Our country is burning.

Not literally, of course, but anyone paying attention to events in America knows we have the equivalent of a political, economic, moral and spiritual five-alarm fire.

The hope that President Barack Obama ushered in 2 years ago has crashed and burned on a mountain of deficit spending and national debt in the trillions “as far as the eye can see.” Most Americans have no moral compass. Consider the epidemic of female teachers who are having sex with male students. Also consider the normalizing of cohabitation as the 21^st century prerequisite for marriage. Additionally, followers of Christ wander around in what Francis Schaeffer prophetically observed in the 1980s as a post-Christian nation.

What must be done to change this? Will large rallies calling for the restoration of honor cause the nation to change course? Will electing men and women of a different political party cause us to change our ways?

Christians must lead the way. America was founded on freedom, which is best governed by a republic and a constitution, and people who govern themselves with morality and religion.

That does not resemble America today. But for nearly two generations the church has talked about revival. While it has occurred in pockets of the country, we largely neglect what’s needed to let that holy purifying fire to rage nationwide.

It doesn’t happen because the recession has prevented us from being in the right posture for revival.

The current national turmoil is caused by worldwide financial upheaval. But it also leads to the foundational issue of what plagues too many followers of Christ. He has been getting our attention through our wallets, bank accounts and stock portfolios.

No one has been untouched by the economic downturn. Millions of Christians are now caught in the vortex of extended unemployment, underemployment or stagnated wages.

I fall into one of these categories. My 18-year career as a journalist, 13.5 years at my last employer near Cleveland, OH, came to a screeching halt nearly 1 year ago. I had to fight my former employer for 7 months to even begin collecting unemployment compensation.

My wife, son, daughter and I survived on food stamps, my wife’s income as a daycare teacher and the generosity of our church and people in our church in Painesville, OH.

We have seen God do some incredible things in the darkest time of our lives. He has also taught us lessons on faith, trust, belief, suffering, waiting, the sovereignty of God, joy and contentment. None of it has been easy.

God used job loss as the way to get my attention on the spiritual priorities of humility and the fear of God.

I’m not suggesting for a second that I have figured out God on these subjects or that I am the example to follow. But when He recalibrated my heart and mind to understand humility and fear of God, I gained a deeper understanding and love of how big, great, wise and powerful my Heavenly Father truly is – and I’m still learning.

That’s why I believe God is telling the church, “Awake from your sleep. Arouse from your slumber. Time is running out.”

The initial warning was the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But the threat against our national security never fully captured our attention. We quickly reverted to our old ways and God decided to strike at something really important to us.

God’s telling American believers that we’ve been self-sufficient for too long. The freedoms we have help America be the envy of the world. But our culture has cultivated a weak brand of Christianity.

Many attributes accompany it, but self-sufficiency is certainly near the top of the list.

Self-sufficiency carries the putrid stench of arrogance and a sense that we know better than God. It displays a stunning lack of humility and fear of God. It ultimately places us as individuals in a spot that is reserved for God alone. Yes, we tend to act like our own … god.

If we can rely on ourselves for everything, then why would we need God for anything? God is either the Lord of all – with all of the power, authority, dominion, wisdom and greatness that comes with that position – or he is the Lord of none.

When I was the news editor of The Liberty Champion at Liberty University in the late 1980s, Christian musician Wayne Watson performed at the college. I had an opportunity to interview him before the concert. For one of the questions, I thought I would try to challenge him to think a little. It was more than 20 years ago, but my question went something like this: What is the one thing that is hindering the effectiveness of the church in America? After all, Watson traveled around the country and had the opportunity to capture the pulse of what was happening in the church.

Without hesitation, Wayne Watson said – materialism. Those were the days following the Jim Bakker scandal at PTL.

I didn’t follow that up with another question, “What have you seen that makes you say that?”

But can anyone make the case that in the past 20-25 years the church in America has become less materialistic?

Not in a $14 trillion economy.

Not in a nation where a measly 9 percent of born-again Christians tithe, according to a 2008 study by the Barna Group.

I don’t want to be too critical of brothers and sisters in Christ. Christianity is a force for good worldwide – always has been and always will. But imagine what more good could be done if even 50 percent of born-again Christians had God’s perspective of their money and tithed to their church.

The harsh reality is many followers of Christ in America remain focused on the wrong thing. We trust ourselves and not God. I struggle with that.

We believe we can provide all of our needs – not God. I struggle with that.

We believe we have control of far much more than we really do. I struggle with that, too.

I believe God is using the current crises as tools to help His followers understand where He wants our focus – on Him.

These times demand that we be people who are crying out for a greater – and much deeper – dependence upon God.

He wants us to trust him completely at a level we have never known.

He wants us to have a great faith that God can – and will – do the impossible, especially when it seems everything is stacked against Him.

He wants us to know Him personally as Jehovah Jireh – the God who provides.

Do we want genuine spiritual revival? Bow down and humble ourselves.

Do we want to see God do that which we regard as “impossible”? Humble ourselves before God and bring a healthy fear of Him.

That is the kind of earth-shattering spiritual revival described in II Chron. 7:14 where it reads, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves …”

That doesn’t require “political change” driven from Washington, D.C. Rather, this is spiritual change with followers of Christ fully submissive, yielded and obedient to the One we say we trust every day. I struggle with this and my guess is that I’m not alone.

The outcome of this change, however, would heal our families and neighborhoods. It would improve American workplaces. It would give us trustworthy elected officials. It would cause Christian business owners to lead the way in ethics and integrity – even if it hurts their bottom line. This change would also make churches more creative and responsive in ministering in their communities.

The human mind can’t fathom how deep this kind of change would fundamentally transform America. And that’s a change all of us can believe in.

Curt W. Olson lives in Painesville Township, OH. He can be contacted at olson.curtfour@gmail.com.

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