In the devotional book, Today in the Word, the writer tells the fable about a frog and a duck who shared a pond. They developed a close friendship as they talked and played together. But when the hot summer sun began to evaporate the water in the pond, the duck decided to fly to a larger body of water. Not wanting to be left alone, the frog suggested that his friend and another duck hold a stick in their bills so he could hang onto it with his mouth. In that way they could all fly to another pond.

As the three were flying high overhead a farmer looked up, saw the frog clinging to the stick by his mouth, and exclaimed, “What a brilliant idea! I wonder who thought of that?” Without hesitation the frog said, “I did!” And he was done!

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me not to be carried away with pride, but to be truly grateful to and for all the people who have contributed to my life and helped get me to where I am today. For without Your help and their help I would not be where I now. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 16:18 (NIV).

Much of our society today is being infected by a virus. No, I don’t mean a computer or biological virus, but a moral virus that could, if not arrested, spread like a plague and eventually infect, or at least seriously affect, our entire society. It’s the irresponsible “blame-game” virus that can end up over time (even though ever so slowly) seriously weaken what was once a healthy, virile people. When a nation becomes morally weakened from within, it becomes vulnerable to opposing forces from without. Today, I believe that we in America and the West are in far greater danger of being horrifically attacked than we ever were during World Wars I and II and in the days of the Cold War with Communism.

Too many business leaders irresponsibly “cook” their company books out of selfish interest and reap havoc in thousands of other people’s lives. Too many employees refuse to accept responsibility for doing the best job they can possibly do. Failing people often blame racial prejudice for their lack of advancement. Irresponsible parents blame teachers when they fail their children for cheating on exams. And as Michael Josephson of Character Counts reports, in a survey of some 36,000 high school students a high percentage of students admit to cheating and lying and at the same time claim to be highly ethical.² These kids who already know how to play the blame-game will be the business and political leaders of tomorrow. Politicians blame the opposition party, divorced people blame their former spouse—and so on ad infinitum—all without accepting personal responsibility for their own failures.

Whether it is at a national or an individual level, when we fail to accept personal responsibility for our actions, we inevitably fall into the blame-game trap. As long as we do this, we will never resolve our personal or national problems.

Individually, we need to accept personal responsibility for every aspect of our life. At the local and national level, we need to vote for leaders whom we know will act responsibly and put the genuine needs of their constituents first instead of bowing to personal interest groups in order to further their own political careers.

We live in perhaps the most developed, highly educated, and technically advanced society ever. But what kind of defense are super powered high speed jet fighters against suicide bombers and dirty bombs? Our brilliant technology will not save us. Remember that in his day Hitler was the leader of one of the most educated, intelligent, and enlightened societies up to that point in history. The reality is that if we abandon our moral moorings and lose our moral compass, we will be (and perhaps are already) on a course heading towards national disaster.

May we never forget that “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please grant in Your loving mercy that You will send a great spiritual awakening to our nation before we are struck again with another “nine eleven” wake-up call (that so soon we forgot), and as a nation turn our hearts back to You. Please let Your work begin in me. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Psalm 33:12.

2. Character Counts, http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/reportcard/

The Pharisees or religious leaders of Jesus day were notorious for their rigid, legalistic, and authoritarian demeanor and attitude. Many of their rules were man-made and kept people in hopeless bondage. In essence they loved their rules more than they loved people and used them as a means to control people. In the case where they brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus, they were using her and their incredibly devious use of rules in an attempt to catch Jesus so they could have him condemned and killed because they were intensely jealous and extremely critical of him. Jesus, of course, brilliantly caught them in their own trap and exposed them for what they truly were by agreeing with them and saying, “[However] let the one who has never sinned be the one to cast the first stone!” The result? One by one they vanished from the scene.

So why were the Pharisees so legalistic and rigid? What made them this way? People who are theologically or religiously rigid are like this because they are emotionally rigid. Their pious religiosity has nothing to do with spirituality. In fact it is a defense against genuine spiritually. They are very much into denial about their true emotions and inner self. They are afraid of knowing themselves and for being known for whom they truly are, so they hide their true self behind an outer mask of super-spirituality, outwardly pretending to be something they are not on the inside. When they do this long enough, they end up unhappily believing that their outer mask is their real self. Consequently, on the inside they die a little every day as an authentic and loving person.

Furthermore, the more rigid, legalistic, authoritarian and self-righteous they are, the more frightened and insecure they are about facing their own reality. They are living a lie and are phony to the core. This is why Jesus condemned them. This is true not only of the religious Pharisees of Christ’s day but also true of rigid, legalistic, and authoritarian people today—be they religious or otherwise. They are blind leaders of the blind. Avoid them like the plague. If you follow their leadership you, too, will die a little every day as an authentic and loving person.

Only honest, genuine, and real people have real authority. Like Jesus, they speak with authority, but are never authoritarian.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please confront me with my reality and in so doing help me to become genuine and authentic and never hide behind any kind of false mask. I ask for this so that my manner of life and witness for You will have authority, and so I will readily be able to discern any phony leader be he/she religious or otherwise. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. John 8:3-5 (NIV).