th (1)Have you ever owned a compass?  My son got one when he was in the Boy Scouts. A compass is:

a light weight magnet, generally a magnetized needle, on a free rotating pivot. This allows the needle to better react to nearby magnetic fields. Since opposites attract the southern pole of the needle is attracted to the Earth’s natural magnetic north pole. This is how navigators are able to discern north.” [ You can read more about compasses here.]

You can always count on a compass to point you to true north no matter where you are in the world. It is a valuable tool to help you find your way. People have used a variety of things over time to make sure they were heading in the right direction. Some have used the stars as a guide, even in Biblical times. The Magi used the north star as their guide to find the Christ child [Matthew 2:1-7].

The Word of God is another tool we have at our disposal to help us find our way through life. Psalm 119:105 says,

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 says,

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Today, fewer and fewer people are using the Word of God and the Lord to direct and guide them along their way. This is evidenced by one glance at the news. The Atlanta Journal -Constitution recently reported the far reaches of sex trafficking and how it is not just foreign children being brought into our boarders, but home grown children being bought and sold for one man’s pleasure and another man’s financial gain.

Fox News reported how some argue that a teacher having sex with a student should be decriminalized.  Seriously?

Recent reports state the internet made porn a multi-billion dollar industry. Its become easily accessible with any internet connection. With smartphones, you can be sitting in a high school English class or a corporate board meeting and the person next to you can be viewing porn.

One blogger recently vented about a television commercial for a prime time show that displayed sexual images at 8:00 a.m. When she linked the article to her Facebook page, Facebook took it down, calling it soft porn, yet ABC aired the commercial during Good Morning America.

We’ve become an overly sexualized society where the if it feels good do it mentality has taken over and there seem to be no moral boundaries and no end in sight. The fact that the Attorney General has stated human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world today tells us that we’re falling deeper and deeper into depravity and farther and farther away from what God intended for us.

1 John 2:16 says,

For everything in the world– the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does– comes not from the Father but from the world.”

It’s time to declare enough is enough! Our world needs to be redirected to True North and the fastest way to do so is on our knees.  2 Chronicles 7:14 says,

If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

We can no longer turn a blind eye. We must take a stand. The church was never called to blend in with the culture.  We have always been called to stand out, be set apart, lest we forget Matthew 5:13,

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”

We have been called for a purpose: to know the Lord and to make Him known, by our words and our deeds, by what we condone and what we reject, by what people see and what they don’t see.  If we don’t take a stand, we become part of the world. Then we lose our saltiness, we lose our purpose, and we lose our way.

Lord, Jesus, break our hearts for what breaks yours. Give us boldness to take a stand and raise our voice, even when it’s not politically correct. Help us to cling to You and Your Word as the compass of our lives and point us to True North, so when we come face to face with You, we will not hear, “Depart from me, I never knew you!” [Matthew 7:18-23].

Our nation is in great need of shifting the path it’s on, and it has to start somewhere. Are you willing to let it begin with you?

What is one thing you can do today to take a stand? Share here.