Sitting in a Midas car repair conversing with a veteran who said that he grew up Lutheran, which is Christians who believe that all Christian teachings should come from the Bible, even with his upbringing he said that through his experiences he questions if God is real. There was a guy sitting next to us, another older gentlemen who said, “you have to have faith.” He mentioned that he grew up baptist, which is also a bible-focused Christian teaching denomination that includes baptism that submerges the believer in water. As I listened to these older gentlemen discuss their faith or lack of faith, I began to think about the younger generation. Some of many who are never exposed to a God-consciousness, yet see people even Christians at times living according to Christian precepts or Biblical principals.
The conversation made me think of how this generation is living. It is okay to be a survivor, but when you have an entire group of people on survival mode it gets strange. It seems nowadays everyone is in survival mode. So many redundant business ideas, so many solutions that are beneficial to your household and no one else’s, so many tricks on how you can get ahead because you have bills to pay. With all of that, no one is taking the time to step back and see how the world around us is being torn down. I mean; God’s people are to advance His kingdom, right? Are believers seeking God to have a clear understanding of what that means in these times, for this generation?
There are very few resources that are accessible for people who help the poor/homeless/hungry. Educating urban youth has become a difficult task in the public school system. We cannot depend on many of our local churches to stand in the gap, in times of need, because they are in survival mode too. No one is trusting God enough or the mission of the church to tithe. There are oversaturated businesses in the marketplace to where those struggling to meet their basic human needs are not making a sustainable income, which translates to a lack of creativity. Unskilled, untrained individuals classifying themselves as things that they are not simply because they can. Unequal distribution of wealth, employment and education. Political broken promises, lies and corrupt advancement on the backs of those who have sacrificed, like the working class and veterans.
Where are we, who are we, what are we here for, what’s the point? What’s happening today reminds me of the film I watched in undergrad, called “KOYAANISQATSI,” which is a Hopi Indian word, which means life out of balance.
According to The Hopi Tribe, “Since time immemorial the Hopi people have lived in Hopituskwa and have maintained our sacred covenant with Maasaw, the ancient caretaker of the earth, to live as peaceful and humble farmers respectful of the land and its resources. Over the centuries we have survived as a tribe, and to this day have managed to retain our culture, language, and religion despite influences from the outside world.”
That one paragraph says to me that there’s legacy. It says to me that they have something to look back at, as simple as a principle, which is to preserve and live in peace and have resources to survive because of a practical principle that connects their culture and sustains them.
Why can’t we have that as Americans? I know the biggest part that interrupts our ability as Americans is GREED, I get it. We want it all, selfishly. What is even more interesting is this country’s structure was formed from biblical principles that came from the only God, the true and living God, but we cannot find peace, maintain nor establish order. Why, because we are not preserving. We are not preserving what governs our constitution and that is the Word of God. As for you intellectuals who have concluded that the constitution is irrelevant when it comes to advancing the Kingdom of God, because under it’s construction it hindered certain races; you may be right, but people are not exempt from ignorance, unadvanced and limited ways of thinking, like advancement through movements from a complete unified perspective, of which this generation lacks, but I will get to that.
On another note, maybe it caught you by surprise that our constitution is based on biblical principles. The know-it-all American, who’s gonna get yours, riches that is, by any means necessary. Yes, you the one who choose not to believe in God, but submit to the principles established by His word. Yes, you who vote religiously, pay your taxes faithfully, work your gifts and talents with the hopes that you’ll produce fruit for generations to come, so that your children’s children will have a harvest, lol, the saints talk it, but you want it too. Now, I get that it included morality and ethics and not exactly Kingdom-mindedness, but God’s precepts are His precepts, regardless of how we divide them.
You don’t believe it, allow me to show you, read on, please…
According to, Delegate Governor Morris of Pennsylvania forthrightly professed, “I believe the religion is the only solid base of morals, and that morals are the only possible support of the free governments. Therefore, education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man toward God.” Then, not all the Americans of that era actually held to the Christian faith, yet they held to the commonly accepted morals, ethics and standard of behavior desired from English Common Law, which drew from biblical law given to the Hebrews by God.
The rule of the law laid out in the constitution descends from the ten commandments!
Moving on, I wanted to address advancement through movements and I will visit the great migration, seeing that when discussing America a huge part of the development of this country starts with Black people. Many of us brought the idea that it was okay to shackle ourselves in the credit culture. We wanted the American dream and many of us lack discipline, so when we are extended credit we abuse it, then was webbed into the shackles of debt and the idea of having more and more things is what define our success.
What happened to owning land, a home and your own business and multiple streams of income outside of an employer. What happened to us being completely independent. Our ancestors did it. I know, the general consensus, when I have this discussion openly, is that the times have changed, but they have not our greed has changed. No one says that you have to have a $300,000 home on a $50,000/year income, with a 30-year mortgage. Those commitments place you in a cycle of owing, because you’re living outside of your means. It seems these days we have to be forcibly humbled. We have to go through repossessions, foreclosures and bankruptcies in order to set us in our reality, which is to live under your income, so that you may have a reserve that is if you learned the lesson, some of us do not learn and become a slave to institutional/systemic masters.
With this, we’re getting further and further away from leaving anything for our children, aside from problems. Not only that, the stress of it all wears us down and by the time our children are able to make a way for themselves they have to take care of us. That cannot be Kingdom, surely it cannot be the plans that God has to prosper us.
At what point do we stop and ask God what He requires for us to get on track. There is no question that in such a divided country, unity is unthinkable. However, Kingdom-minded individuals should be more concerned with the plans of God over our lives. Believers should be focused on transitioning from generation-to-generation. That transition should be our established wealth to continue on the legacies of our businesses, ministries, and churches to pass on the core values of our beliefs and the resources to help the generations come to be innovative in their time here on earth to continue to bring forth the Kingdom of God.
If we pay close attention there are many blueprints that are already designed to help us get back on track. We can take a look at the black metropolis in Chicago as an example. How the black community grew and established itself with political power, business enterprises, and union activism. Regardless of how we devalue the hard work of our predecessors, the point is that it was established. If the structures and opportunity to continue to build legacy deteriorate we can only blame ourselves, but we are allowing it to happen without thinking about the next generation, then they have nothing and are not equipped by us to help them rebuild and establish, because not only do we not respect what was established for us, we fail in teaching the youth the history so they know of the broken-down barriers and possibilities.
We have work to do! If at the simplest let us follow the established moral code, respecting one another to be free in establishing their own way as long at their plans are ethical not harming or impacting people in a negative way, not allowing greed to hinder people’s possibility to move forward. Along with that encouraging unity in whatever area you are planted in; if you are Kingdom-minded most importantly be about Kingdom business.
