Put On Your War Paint!!!!!

One of my sisters faced a difficult situation yesterday. You could see in her face that she was heartbroken.

One thing I remember Mom saying to her was, “When you wake up, put on your war paint!” 

She meant that, the next day, get up and do your makeup. Make your hair pretty. Despite whatever may be going on, it helps to keep taking care of yourself. It helps to keep doing what you need to do. Cry if you need to, get angry. Rest. But, keep moving forward, no matter what.

It made me think about the situation in our nation right now with the election. We are at a crossroads in our nation’s history. We are at a questionable time in Church history as well. There is no telling what is around the corner.

I know two things. First, God is still in charge. Second, as the Church we need to get up and work. We need to also get down on our knees and pray like we have never prayed before. As my Mom said to my sister, we need to get our war paint on, spiritually speaking.

Forget politics as they apply to secular issues for the moment (economics, healthcare, etc.). While I have opinions on those things, in the light of God’s word, they  don’t matter in the end.

 It doesn’t matter who is president. It doesn’t matter if we don’t care for our Government Officials. Our job, as Christians, is to obey the law of the land. We are to respect our leaders and the rules. We are to be in submission to them.  (Romans 13:1-7)

As Christians, our ultimate job is to spread the Gospel. Our purpose is to tell others about God. What the US doesn’t need right now is more Christians obsessed with politics. No. What the US needs is for the Church to be the Church.

We need to get our hands dirty. (Eph. 4:28, James 2:17.)

We need to Study God’s Word. (2nd Tim. 2:15, 2 Tim. 3:14-17.)

We need to preach the Gospel. (Matt. 28:19.)

We need to help the poor. We are the Church. The government is not. Stop trying to make it their job. (Luke 3:11, Luke 12:23, Matt. 25:35-40)

Visit, help, mentor, or even adopt those in foster care. (James 1:27.)

Visit the sick and lonely. (Matt. 25:35-40, 2nd Cor. 1:3-5.)

Love the abused and broken.  (2nd Cor. 1:3-5, Romans 12:15.)

Give unconditional love to all despite their sins or circumstances. (1 Cor. 13:4-7.)

Tell them of the healing and forgiveness that God can give. (2 Cor. 1:3-5.)

Get on our knees and pray for this nation and the world. (1 Tim. 2:1-4.)

This is putting on our war paint. This is how a Christian goes to battle. This is putting on the full armor of God. (Eph. 6:10-18.) Getting up and working and being an example changes things.

We can scream until we are blue in the face about the morals in this nation. The screaming isn’t working. 

We cannot make an impact unless we are what God has called us to be. We must be ready each moment for opportunities we receive. We must be ready to work. We must stop being afraid. 

This is what Christians need to be doing right now, no matter what happens this year. Now until Jesus comes back. It’s time to paint up for battle!