After a rash of break-ins to cars, I looked out of my office one morning and saw someone sitting in the driver seat of my car. What would you have done? Fearlessly (and perhaps foolishly) I raced to the care to confront the thief. As I arrived, I realized that somebody had put a huge teddy bear in my front seat with a message from one of my favorite ministers, “Thank you for ‘bearing’ with us!” I can be fooled, sometimes. Can you?
Knowing our deep desire to find a Savior to fix all of our problems, Jesus told his disciples before he left not to be fooled. Many false prophets and false messiahs would rise up claiming to be him. These would fool “if possible” even God’s chosen ones.
We must be careful not to let our frustration or our desire for the world to be set right to confuse us. God’s pattern for changing the world is not finally a political savior. As important as earthly leaders are, God is still working through the gospel. The gospel says we are worse off than we thought. There is no sense denying it, making excuses or blaming others. Thankfully, the gospel also says we are more loved than we ever dreamed. For our failures, we can be forgiven, if we admit them.