My expectations have changed in recent years.
I wouldn’t say I have become a cynic, but I would say I’ve become less of a Pollyanna.
My spirit has been tested, allowing me to notice and discern more clearly when things are out of tune.
Maybe this comes with age, but I think it comes more with being wiser, as the former is not synonymous with the latter.
At the risk of sounding like a cynic, I will share a dozen things that have recently captured my attention. I would not call these “revelations” as they are, unfortunately, not shocking to anyone. They are simply things I have learned and confirmed through echoing conversations, interviews, and research.
- Organizations initially formed with good intentions can become corrupt, ultimately harming or cheating the very people they set out to help.
- Doctors are often incentivized by pharmaceutical companies to promote drugs that alleviate symptoms rather than address the root cause to promote healing.
- Many criminals escape justice while victims are re-traumatized by an unjust legal system.
- Veterans and police officers who have risked their lives in service are increasingly taking their own lives.
- People spend more time on their phones than building and maintaining authentic relationships, including a relationship with Christ Jesus.
- A growing number of children are confused about their gender, an issue that was rare in the past.
- Youths are experiencing debilitating levels of anxiety and depression that hinder their development.
- Parents are excluded from the decision-making process in their children’s public school education, including not being informed about the pronouns used by teachers for their children.
- Young adults are questioning the feasibility of achieving the American dream, including owning a home, finding a life partner, and having children.
- Adults struggle to make ends meet, often choosing between filling their grocery cart or paying the bills.
- Healthcare, even with insurance, can be too expensive for people to prioritize. High deductibles and co-pays can prevent individuals from seeking treatment, attending follow-up visits, filling prescriptions, and adhering to doctors’ instructions.
- The work culture has deteriorated, leaving many individuals trapped in overworked and undervalued jobs that they can’t afford to leave. Despite improving employment statistics, job seekers, especially those looking for remote positions, often face tough competition from applicants nationwide. They usually receive a standard rejection email or no response, even when highly qualified.
- Seniors will soon receive a slight cost-of-living adjustment in social security benefits. Still, this increase will not keep up with the rising costs of Medicare, rent, groceries, and prescriptions.
These are just a dozen examples of the dozens upon dozens of real issues facing each of us at some level.
We are encouraged to trust in God, but we often seek the world’s definition of trust to measure God’s capabilities.
In doing so, we limit God by surrendering to a world that alters, suppresses, and manipulates images and messaging through fear or artificial means.
Eventually, we understand that we should not fear the technology itself but rather the intentions of the people controlling it.
When our sense of self is censored, suppressed, or denied, we might question God’s presence in society’s decline. In this questioning, we may doubt whether faith serves merely as a coping mechanism similar to mindfulness and exercise.
When faith is minimized, hope eventually retreats.
In this, every belief is open to question to the point of being overwhelming; nothing is discerned because we doubt our ability to know the truth. Consequently, we end up listening to the loudest or most influential voices while our Bibles remain unopened.
We may become discouraged, silently quitting the world to find peace in solitude. Here, we can become comfortable, left without friction, and grow dull. Eventually, we become apathetic: a useless tool that takes up space but does little to improve the world.
Have we abandoned the One who loved us first, only to be left heartbroken by the world?
Our moral compass has been recalibrated, and we no longer come together to worship, encourage, break bread, and live life as a community. Believers cannot love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ because most of us don’t even know one another.
Have we forgotten how to build and maintain relationships? We have become so comfortable being isolated that the thought of reaching out feels unnatural or too much.
What is natural now was once considered unnatural.
Take, for example, Halloween. While there have always been ghosts and goblins at Halloween, they have become more sinister.
The devilish nature of society is no longer “masked.”
We have become desacralized. Little is left to remain pure, and even if it is, many wouldn’t recognize or understand unadulterated beauty. Some would even try to desecrate it out of fear or envy. Others would mock it for being different… or for the fact that purity will not celebrate degeneracy.
Pay attention to the kids as they are out trick-or-treating this Halloween. You will notice fewer and fewer children dressed as police officers and firefighters.
Superheroes and the benevolent are outnumbered by the villains.
And this narrative continues beyond Halloween as Satan works to weave costumes into adulthood. His designers are working overtime to fit you for a mask that distorts right and wrong.
If Satan had his way, faith would become obsolete, and God would be viewed as harmless and as powerless as the occasional child who dresses up as an angel for Halloween or for a Christmas pageant: cute but not taken seriously.
What is the quality of your faith today? It is wise to ask yourself this, as Satan has been paying attention and can surmise the answer.
This column was initially published by CherryRoad Media. ©Tiffany Kaye Chartier.