Gospel of John Study: Part 11 - Richard E. Simmons III

Are you bored with life? Are you happy with where your life is headed?

Last week we discussed how boredom can ruin your life and the danger of an easy life - a life of leisure. This can lead to a life of complacency

Historian Alexander Tytler wrote this in the late 18th century:

“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote for themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”

He goes on to say:

“The average age of the world’s great civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from great courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; then from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence, you go back into bondage.” 

Does this remind you of where we are today as a nation? What will each of us do with the prosperity we have been blessed with?

I believe that it’s not so much that prosperity corrupts us. It’s what prosperity makes available to us that can potentially corrupt us.

What is God calling you to do?