WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE
Where do we go from here—after the shouting has exhausted us, after trust has thinned, after the lines have been drawn so sharply that even friends feel like strangers?
It is a fair question, and an urgent one.
The temptation is to look outward first—to new leaders, better systems, stronger arguments. But the Word of God consistently turns us inward before it sends us outward; it calls us to repentance before it calls us to reform.
We begin where we should have begun all along: with humility. God has never promised to heal a land simply because people are loud or convinced they are right. He promises healing when His people are honest before Him. He says that if His people, who bear His name, will humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways, then He will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14). Notice the order—humility first, repentance next, healing afterward. Skipping steps only deepens the wound.
From there, we return to the slow work of faithfulness. The kingdom of God rarely advances through spectacle; it grows like seed in the soil. Jesus said the kingdom is like a man who scatters seed on the ground; he sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how (Mark 4:26-27). We want immediate transformation; God often works through quiet obedience—through ordinary believers choosing truth over convenience, love over retaliation, patience over outrage.
We also relearn how to see one another. The world trains us to reduce people to labels; Christ teaches us to see neighbors. Jesus told us to love not only those who agree with us, but even our enemies, to pray for those who oppose us, so that we may reflect the character of our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:44-45). That command is not weakness; it is moral courage. A church that cannot love across differences has forgotten the cross that reconciled enemies to God.
Where do we go from here? We go back to the Gospel—not as a slogan, but as a way of life. Paul reminded the church that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and that He entrusted to us the message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). If reconciliation is central to God’s work in the world, it must be central to ours as well. The church exists not to mirror the anger of the age, but to model a different way of being human.
And finally, we go forward in hope. Not optimism grounded in circumstances, but hope anchored in Christ. We fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who endured the cross, despised the shame, and now reigns in glory (Hebrews 12:2). History is not spiraling out of control; it is moving toward a promised end. The risen Christ is not pacing heaven in anxiety. He is building His church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).
So where do we go from here? We go lower—into humility; deeper—into faithfulness; wider—into love; and forward—into hope. We walk the narrow road again, not because it is easy, but because it is true. And we trust that God still does His best work with people who are willing to be changed before they try to change the world.
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Lord, lead us from pride into humility, from fear into faith, from anger into love. Teach us to walk faithfully in confusing times, trusting You to bring light out of darkness. In Jesus’ name, amen.
BDD
