“Little by little the look of the country changes because of the men we admire. You're just going to have to make up your own mind one day about what's right and wrong.”
This quote is from a movie from 1963 entitled Hud, starring Paul Newman and Melvyn Douglas. The quote is from the family’s patriarch who is slowly losing his ranch and his cattle due to a disease and a crooked, changing world, and he is trying to instill wisdom into his grandson. I have watched this movie for the past 15 years, and it is a gritty, cold story of a broken family becoming increasingly torn apart. Throughout my viewings of this film, I have gone from appreciating how cool Paul Newman’s character is, to understanding how crooked he is and recognizing a similar broken world in real life.
During an election year, highlighted by a pandemic, we are faced with many realities that may not have been so appealing at the start, but have now become something we have given in to due to an overwhelming wave of pressure and acceptance in our society and social media. The amount of hate spewed out in the election ads this year puts a pit in my stomach. The different campaigns seem to want us to make the easiest gut decision based on whatever is the most sensational and provocative trait of the candidate, which makes for a potential skewed understanding on our part.
How can we possibly make the right choice in the face of so much confusion? As Christians and citizens of this country, we change more and more based on what and who we’re admiring. Are we trying to find Christ in every change, or in every new admiration? Is each new trend allowing us to still make Christ our one thing?
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Colossians 3:1
Gracious God, we want to do what is right, but when there is so much confusion, how do we proceed? We pray for clear discernment and a love for each other, no matter what earthly trend we believe in, and to help us all make you our one goal.
Written By: Matt Morrison