As I look at America, a moral shell of what it once was, filled with men and women who have lost their way, have very little understanding of truth, and who seem endlessly led astray to the point where they know not where they are or where they going, I realize that Americans have been lured away by vanities. Vanities in the dictionary is defined as being worthless, pointless or futile. When they should be focused on serious issues that face our nation, most Americans can’t be bothered as they are currently distracted.
I see Americans consumed with these things. They have become gods to the American people, so much so that when confronted with a decision to stand on principle or pursue their vanities, most Americans choose their meaningless pursuits.
Here are five vanities that people pursue and have allowed to take over their lives. I would first point out that none of these things are evil in their own right, but when placed at a level in someone’s life that it is more important than standing on principle, things have gone awry. Consider them with me, and the value that we Americans have placed on them.
Sports – Now don’t get me wrong. Sports are a very good thing, in their place. I played sports all while growing up and they were a good thing for me. I learned how to win, and I learned how to lose. I learned sportsmanship. All good things. But later in life I distanced myself from sports. Yes, I golfed from time to time and played an occasional game of pickup basketball, but for many Americans, it goes so much further than that.
“Our Founders made no peace with this organisation of public sports. They did not spend their lives to secure for all men and women on the earth freedom, health, and leisure, in order that they might waste lives in such folly.” H.G. Wells, A Modern Utopia
When we should be focused on saving our nation, people are instead consumed with sports. It reminds me of the term “bread and circuses,” credited to Juvenal, a Roman poet. The idea is that when they should be focused on civic duty, citizens are instead distracted with the trivial.
I see this now even more among even my conservative friends. The last few years have inarguably demonstrated a war against conservatives, demeaning them as well as American traditions such as the National Anthem. Nowhere is this more evident than professional sports. The major sports leagues have not only tolerated but encouraged the degradation of America with their treatment of our National Anthem. Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, even tried to remove entirely the National Anthem from being played before games. While the NBA, in a moment of sanity, told Cuban he most certainly will play the Anthem, they still allow other demonstrations that undermine national pride and unity. Yet people still patronize these leagues. The NFL is one of the worst perpetrators against America. It would make sense then that conservatives would reject that kind of behavior, yet they don’t. Why? Well, when push comes to shove, and this is hard for me to say, they are so infatuated with sports, that they cannot stay away even though those sports openly mock them and deride everything they stand for.
Why would anyone allow themselves to be publicly ridiculed and then turn around and give those same people money?
“You are a white supremacist.”
“I’m not really, but here’s $250.”
See how ignorant that sounds when written out? Yet millions of Americans cannot stop watching sports, supplying their enemies with the money they will use to destroy the American Way. Vanities.
Wealth – Again, there is no innate problem with wealth. Some of the most godly men in the Bible were wealthy. The richest man to ever live was King Solomon, who wrote the book of Proverbs in the Scriptures. Money is an inanimate object and can be used for good or for evil. What I am talking about here is the relentless pursuit of wealth that causes one to go astray and to not stand with truth. Wealth is the ultimate attainment for many today. Self-help gurus and financial advisors teach people how to “get rich quick,” But the people forget the warnings:
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” I Timothy 6:10
First notice the difference from what you may have thought that passage says. It does not say that “money is the root of all evil.” But the “love of money” is what can certainly lead you astray. In all my years of traveling our country as a speaker and author, I have found that there are people who are rich who don’t love money and there are poor people who do love money. It isn’t about money. It is about the elevation you give to money in your life and heart.
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One of the most important takeaways of our year of CoVID was that idols came down. Entertainment is an idol, whether it is tv, gaming, Netflix, dining out or other. Personally. I have witnessed mothers more interested in their phones than the child tagging along behind them in my neighborhood. What is more important than precious time with one's own child?
So the idols of sports, entertainment and movies, (both in producing and in attending), halted. Did Americans find something richer during last year as the poles of Ashtera were taken down--so they could see their lives differently? Did they? Did they talk to their kids during newly found dinnertime discussions? Each and every person in America faced an invisible choice last year. What did they choose? The time of dividing continues.