Are We Losing Our Spirituality?

 

Two words, LAUS DEO, are displayed on the aluminum cap atop the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. No one can see these words. In fact, most visitors to the monument are totally unaware they are even there. LAUS DEO, two seemingly insignificant unnoticed words. Out of sight and, one might think, out of mind, but very meaningfully placed at the highest point over what is the most powerful city in the most powerful nation in the world. So, what do these two words, in Latin, composed of just two syllables and only seven letters, possibly mean? Very simply, they say, “Praise Be to God!”

Construction began on the monument in 1848 but was not completed until 1888 when it was opened to the public. From the top of this magnificent granite and marble obelisk structure, visitors may take in the beautiful panoramic view of the city. Charles L’Enfent formed a perfect cross upon the landscape with the White House to the north and the Jefferson Memorial to the south, the Capital Building to the east and the Lincoln Memorial to the west. When the cornerstone of the Washington Monument was laid on July 4, 1848, deposited within it were many items including the Holy Bible presented by the Bible Society. Such was the spiritual mood given by the founders of our nation, a unique constitutional representative form of government. When observing the inscriptions found in public places all over our nation’s capital, one will easily find the signature of God as it is unmistakenly inscribed everywhere you look. As Christians we are reminded of Psalm 127:1, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Un less the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.”

[1 John 4-4] Over the years poles have been repeatedly taken as to the morality statis of our country and the world. From what the poles show, America’s moral values are in free fall! It is incredible to me how many who come to the church asking for assistance are unabashed about co-habiting with a sexual partner without permission of a marriage license. Few consider it wrong. More consider it wrong for asking.

Let’s be honest about a few facts we cannot deny. Our prisons are overcrowded. Our court system is overloaded. Bibles and prayers have been removed from the classroom. Our churches are not even holding their own while Islam is growing. Blatant immorality is more tolerated in our culture than conservative Christianity. Anti-Christian philosophies such as relativity and naturalism rule the day. The lack of spiritual direction in America has created much larger problems today than what we saw sixty years ago. So, how is this all going to play out? Can it be turned around? Has the slide away from God gone too far?

Only God knows the answers to our troubling questions. However, what we do know is that the true church has always existed in an untoward world. Jesus recognized that His disciples in the first century were “…not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:14-16). John later wrote to the churches for all ages, “Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you” (1 John 3:13).

Let us not be surprised at anything that happens against Christ and His church (not being surprised doesn’t mean that we have to like it). But let us be determined to not surrender without a fight against the forces of darkness that want to bring down Christianity. If respect for the body of Christ and practice of the truth decline in the world, they don’t have to in our personal life. We can remain stronger than the world. We can remain separate from the world (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). By the devotion of each individual, the individual can conquer (Romans 8:37-39) and lead the way for others to follow in the truth of God.