Time for change!

"Time for change" was the slogan that was, to a large extent, credited with gaining Barack Obama his success in the United States Presidential election. As we in the United Kingdom anticipate a general election during the first half of this new year, it would appear that it is definitely time for change. At the latest count, approximately 160 members of the House of Commons are planning to stand down - many of them shamed into doing so by the scandal over the fraudulent use of the expenses system! (By the way, I have been pleasantly surprised to have heard little mention of "Expenses-gate"!).

This situation - that, a couple of years ago was totally unforeseen - means that there will be a similar influx of "new blood". That, in turn, means that there will be an opportunity like there has not been before, for those of us who believe that our nation has lost its way over recent decades, and that it is not only financially, but also morally, bankrupt to encourage, and vote for, candidates who will stand for Biblical truth before party dogma.

It is my hope - and has been my prayer for some time - that disciples of Jesus, all over the U.K., will become involved in the forthcoming election. Let us be prepared to go out of our way, to inconvenience ourselves if necessary, to question the candidates in our respective constituencies with regard to moral issues, as well as legal and financial issues. Above all, let us be a praying people and claim the promise that "... if My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (II Chron.7:14) And please note that it is the people of God who are to act, in order that the whole land might be healed!

Of course, we must keep in our minds the thought that the return of the Lord Jesus, heralding the end of time, may be very close. So, even as we act in accordance with, and in obedience to, the revealed Word, we must always echo the words of the same Jesus, as He agonised in the Garden of Gethsemane: "... not as I will, but as You will." (Matt.26:39)