The fall of every great civilization always began the same.
When things got too comfortable, people began searching for new ways to please
themselves. In the absence of struggle people’s spirits weakened. They became spiritually comatose and their moral
muscles quickly degenerated. They ceased
to invest in the future of their children and instead focused solely on self-indulgences. And those who didn’t invest in their future simply did not get to have one.
Look back to the Roman Empire, the absolute height of human
civilization; that is until we came along. Today we view Roman pleasures with a
sense of disgust, but were they really that much different from the pleasures
we pursue?
They loved to binge on drinking; we have our bars. They loved violence, and we love R-rated
movies and video games. And money, let’s not forget the money, we all love
having and spending money, on things we absolutely do not need. Finally, they loved lots and lots of food, and don’t we?
After all, we are the fast food nation, the snacking nation, the nation
of people who stuff their stomachs to satiate their spirits.
We comfortably give in to our fleshly passions and quickly pervert
our lives, just like they did. The Roman
pleasures resulted in many unwanted babies, later on scarified on altars to
foreign Gods. Diseases run rampant, and
innocence was lost in grips of sexual perversion. Today in America, 3700 abortions are
performed each day, when young women sacrifice their unborn children on wicked
altars of self; that adds up to staggering 1.37 million a year. 270 cases of STD are diagnosed each day, that
makes 11 cases each hour, and if you are not shocked enough yet, 1 case of STD
is being diagnosed every 5 minutes in our great empire. Child abuse is reported every 10 seconds, and
5 to 6 children die each day as a result of child abuse or neglect! Despicable!
Their pleasures made the Romans and their state soft and completely morally depraved.
Our pleasures are leading us in the
same direction.
Ancient Egyptians were no different, they strived for
pleasure in life and argued that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. Think of Sodom and Gomorrah. What became of them? Fire and brimstone, a great cautionary tale. Look what happened to Babylon after their
single-minded pursuit of sensual pleasures, without any regard for
consequences.
Sure, a life where we have to worry about tomorrow is
hard. A life filled with conscious
self-sacrifice is even harder. It was
once said that poverty produces men of character, yet it is wealth, which becomes
the true test of ones integrity. If we
do not start investing in our future now, we are not going to have one to look
forward to.
What are our self-indulgences? Is it easier to go to work each day, even
though we hear the Lord pleading with us to forget ourselves and stay home with
our children? Do we eat to fix our
heartaches, or do we choose to only have one because we have the freedom to do
so? Do we spend endless hours on the
phone or in front of TV, while our children starve for attention? Do we have to have another dress, or buy yet
another toy for our whiny toddler? Do we
really have to have so many things?
We had our childhoods, and it is our children’s’ turn to
live, and learn, and to grow up. Let us
help them along because they need our guidance.
When their future arrives, once again we will find time to pursue our
ambitions. This day will come all too
soon. Today, let us put our strivings on
hold; we do not want to look back with regrets. Our flesh is strong and it will not be easy,
but let us daily die to ourselves, for the sake of our children, so that we may
live to see a better tomorrow.
http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html
http://www.dadehealth.org/downloads/Now%20That%20You%20Know%20-Faith%20Community%202011.pdf
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