Who will stand in the gap?

Maurie Daigneau Aug. 13, 2020

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"These are the times that try men's souls …" So began an article written by Thomas Paine in December, 1776. Or was it something I just read the other day in the Wall Street Journal?

Not once during my 70 years of life do I remember such a disquieting time. The seams that have held our country together for so long appear to be unraveling.

Might there be a new Thomas Paine among today's residents of Washington, D.C.? Might there be a person who would dare to stand in the gap before the Lord in this moment, that our land should not be destroyed (see Ezek. 22:30)?

Are we Christian leaders stepping up or as in the past, when the Lord looked for such leaders, might "no one" be found (v. 30)?

We must acknowledge that as a country we are reaping what we have sown, or rather, have failed to sow (see Gal. 6:7). God has made us in His image, which means first and foremost that we are creatures who can think. And the wisest of men once wrote "for as he thinks within himself, so is he" (Prov. 23:7a).

It is the thinking of human beings that determines how they live. For that very reason, that same wise man also wrote this:

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And even when he is old he will not depart from it.
(Prov. 22:6)

Our country's children for the most part have not been trained up in the way they should go. They have no idea what it means to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (1 Cor. 10:5b) because they don't know how Christ thinks. And the even greater sorrow is that they have no desireto know how He thinks.

Some writers have identified the foundational heart of the problem. Under the heading "What exactly is the Gospel," theologian Jackson Wu recently wrote the following:

In recent years countless books, articles, and blogs have debated the question, "What is the gospel?" … There seems to be as much diversity as there is agreement when defining exactly what is the gospel.

Can there be a greater sorrow than the one that wells from the heart when contemplating the reality that after 2,000 years, our country's most prestigious preachers can't agree on the meaning of the most important message ever delivered to the world?

The Apostle Paul warned that "in the last days difficult times [would] come" (2 Tim. 3:1). He suggested that those times would be perpetuated by men who would be "holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power" (v. 5a). He advised the avoidance of "such men as these" (v. 5b).

It is hard to argue with the non-church world when they criticize what they see in the lives of Christians around them. If we are honest with ourselves, and, more importantly, with the One whom we claim to be following, we must admit that we are falling short of the glory of God.

As leaders, let's rethink the meaning of the many admonitions of Paul to "be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus" (Rom. 15: 5; see also 1 Cor. 1:10).

Let's commit to humbling ourselves to the point of allowing the Holy Spirit to unify us, that with one voice we might go forward with a message of demonstrable power to the glory and honor of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (see Rom. 15: 6).

We must remind each other that our faith shouldn't rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God (see 1 Cor. 2:5).

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Maurie Daigneau is a retired business owner/entrepreneur and author of the newly-published book The Gospel You've Never Heard: An Understanding That Will Change Your Life. He has been in a personal relationship with the Lord for more than 50 years, and has committed the balance of his days to sharing the lessons he has learned from the only One any of us is to call “Teacher.” Maurie and his wife, Susie, raised five children of their own and are now the proud grandparents of 13. Learn More »

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