As I write this only 8 days into the New Year, irritants abound – some drug behind us from last year that we just haven’t let go of, some which have already taken hold of our mind this year, and yet a few which we surmise are yet to show themselves over the horizon of days or months to come. Such irritants come from every corner of our lives: home, school, work, society, and the list goes on. Yes, we may even find some of these irritants in our local church or denominational hierarchy. As J.C. Ryle so aptly wrote regarding Matthew 13:25, “Good and evil will always be found together in the professing Church, until the end of the world.”
Okay, there’s no getting around the fact that irritants are everywhere and that they affect us; the question is: What do we do with these offences, discomforts, afflictions, and hurts that bug us? Remembering that, as Christians, we are called to “in every thing give thanks,” and to “rejoice ever more” and to not be anxious about anything, I suggest that we TURN THEM INTO PEARLS!
Most of you are likely aware that without discomfort, without an irritant, there would be no pearls. Keep this in mind, pearls are an oyster’s response to pain. If a grain of sand or some other material gets inside the oyster and rubs up against its organs – it hurts! – much in the same way that your eye hurts if a grain of sand or dust blows into it. By God’s design, your eye waters, hoping to wash away the irritant; the oyster doesn’t have that ability, but God created it to surround its irritant with a liquid called mother-of-pearl. This specialized liquid hardens into a tiny pearl; little by little it grows larger. Without the mother-of-pearl coating, the sand would continue to irritate the oyster and could eventually do damage to the organ its rubbing against. However, God has made the oyster special – giving it the ability to turn its irritants into something beautiful, special, and valuable. He has done the same for us!
If we will turn to God for help, He will, by His infinite grace and mercy, give us the ability – through His Holy Spirit – to coat those “grains of sand” that hurt – those irritants – with forgiveness and love. Dear reader, be assured, God’s grace is sufficient for us. We spoke earlier of the damage that could be done to the oyster if it didn’t cover that grain of sand with the liquid mother-of-pearl. In like manner, if we do not cover our irritant with forgiveness and love, it will continue to irritate us and do us damage. May the joy of the Spirit lift us up above our hurts and irritants. Let’s make pearls in our life out of those irritants. Our character will become beautiful and of greater worth to the Kingdom of God if we make pearls out of those “grains of sand” that hurt.
These living pearls will show the “beauty of holiness” and a “sacrifice of praise” unto the Lord. They show the beauty of trusting in the Lord with all our heart and resting in Him.
We only need look as far as this week’s Decency Minutes (DM) to see some of the irritants that might surround us:
DM #1: Who isn’t irritated by the many ways in which the media leaves us feeling betrayed and lied to? Who among us weren’t in shock over the way January 6ers were unconstitutionally held, having their rights and freedoms stripped from them? Add to these things how both the media and the government abused their influence and ignored the Constitution regarding COVID 19 and the so-called vaccination. This list is not only long, but likely to grow longer in the coming year.
DM #2: When we read that the two greatest threats to America are Islam and communism, how can one help but to be irritated by the election of the Red-Green Axis candidate Zohran Mamdani? As we see his plans for NYC and those who, without any experience, are being put into official positions and wonder how this may portend for the rest of our nation, who doesn’t feel their blood pressure rise just a little – either through anxiety or irritation? Even the thought of America becoming the next Venezuela might put us in a state of anxiety for our children or grandchildren.
DM #3: With the ways in which Islam is infiltrating our government, our institutions, our schools, our society and culture, and as we recognize that their political ideology runs directly contrary to our Constitution and Christocentric foundations, and as we hear of the Muslim desire to overtake our neighborhoods, states, and nation, shouldn’t there be a sense of righteous indignation? Anxiety? Irritation?
Yet in all these things, the Christian is called to a higher discipline and a higher response. Pay close attention to Paul’s words in his first letter to the Thessalonian Christians: “See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.” (1 Thes. 5:15)
If you’d like to see a few more layers of “mother-of-pearl” that should coat our irritations, check out Colossians 3:14-17. Let’s make pearls out of the above irritations as well as those personal things which bug us. Give them over to the Lord in prayer! Even as we pray, there will be things which we are called to do. God is ALWAYS sovereign, but man has Biblically relayed and God-given responsibilities to carry out.
Last week marked two important anniversaries. Five years since the January 6 election protests in Washington, D.C. and one year since a wildfire wiped out a big chunk of Los Angeles.
The narratives surrounding both of these events have been hotly debated.
Many J6 protestors were overcharged with nonsense crimes to make the event sound like an “insurrection,” instead of a peaceful crowd with some unruly elements.
The Palisades fire, meanwhile, was cast as an accidental holdover fire of imperceptible coals which popped back into flames a week later. Newly revealed text messages, however, reveal that fire fighters on the scene of the previous fire knew there was a risk of rekindling, but were ordered to leave the scene of the doused fire.
In both cases, journalists have provided cover for leftist officials who keep making society worse.
Sadly, we can’t trust the media.
As New Yorkers celebrated the inauguration of their socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, Venezuelans celebrated what they hope is the end of their nation’s socialist regime.
In the 1950s, Venezuela was the fourth richest country in the world. Yet when the nation fell under socialism, the nation descended into extreme poverty – where medicine is scarce and millions face starvation, many eating only one meal a day.
Yet socialism continues to be pushed by the Left in the United States.
In Venezuela, dictators seized private property and the means of production. In New York, Mamdani is pushing the same principle, vowing to replace American individualism with Marxist collectivism. While one of his appointees advocates for seizing private property.
Marxist ideology has taken root in the U.S. and is spreading through our educational institutions and the Democrat party.
If Americans are complacent, we may be the next Venezuela.
Europe is finally realizing the menace of rising Muslim numbers, yet Americans seem slow to see the same danger here. Take for example, Patterson, New Jersey. It proudly calls itself the “first Muslim city,” and they’re striving to force Islamic principles on people through laws or violence.
Americans must wake up, be aware, and take heed to the following warnings:
Charlie Kirk posted one day before his assassination: “Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America.”
Alabama’s Senator Tuberville warned: “The enemy is inside the gates.”
Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, passionately proclaimed at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference: “There is a threat to our freedom that is not often talked about enough, and it is the greatest near and long-term threat to both our freedom and our security, and that is the threat of Islamist ideology.”
NOTE: We posted an article on this topic earlier in the week. Click here to read it.
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