Muddied Springs & Polluted Wells

SCRIPTURE: Like a muddied spring or a polluted well are the righteous who give way to the wicked. Proverbs 25:26 NIV

QUOTE: “Corporations, people who are in it for profit, often if they are not principled, if they are not people of virtue, people of religious faith who say, ‘we’re going to do the right thing, no matter what’…they’re going to do whatever reinforces the bottom line…. When they’re virtuous on their own, when they believe in self-government and they govern themselves, that’s great, but what happens when corporations say, ‘we don’t care about your parochial American values or your Judeo/Christian values, we’re going to persecute people, we’re going to work with people who persecute people.’ At what point does the government come in and say, ‘No, not in America!’” – Eric Metaxas, author, If You Can Keep It and Bonhoeffer, interview, June 23, 2021, Crossroads

THOUGHT: Organizations and institutions, public or private, can’t really be moral or religious – they can only be run by people who are virtuous, or vice-versa of course. No matter how good, if they fall into the wrong hands, things change. It’s an old story that repeats itself over and over, in recent days as well as ancient times. Ask parents who’ve turned over businesses to their children only to see their hard-won success sapped by mis-management and greed. Or ask the citizens of Venezuela or China as power is corrupted by tyranny. Ask the veteran whose grandchildren have been schooled to hate the United States.

As Christians, do we not have a responsibility for speaking out against corruption, oppression and tyranny with our words and our votes? I see a need to take more public stands about how leaders of corporations and government conduct themselves because our springs are getting muddier and our wells more polluted as we overlook and compromise with wickedness again and again.

As Metaxas went on to say in his interview, “If you want to live in a country that’s free and promotes freedom for people hungry for freedom around the world, you’re going to have to not shop ‘there’ and not do ‘that.’ If you’re not willing to do that, and to pay these small prices, you’re the enemy of freedom…. You have a choice – you can’t get out of choosing.”

PRAYER: Thank you, God, that we still have choices when others’ choices have been minimized, silenced, threatened. Oh God may our choices and words line up with your good law – convict us where they don’t; forgive us as we repent; restore our muddy springs, our polluted wells, and our beloved nation.