Are we on the edge of destruction?

     Barry McGuire wrote and performed that song back in the 60's for those of you who remember.  The song outlined most everything that was going wrong in that time in the world.  We were at war, people were feeling hopeless and many had given up on society.  Some even disappeared to only find a new identity in a different location and start all over.  Others went into communes and sought the wisdom of the ages.  Barry was different.  Barry went on to become a Christian and to write, record and perform many Christian songs.  His influence has taken a 180 from where he was then.  Today Baltimore is burning, there are riots, destruction and looting across the nation.  Kids are killing kids in schools and on and on the carnage goes.  Yet, Jesus said, the end won't come.  He won't return until it gets worse.  So why do we try to make things better?  Wouldn't it just be easier to let it all go, have Jesus come back, and take us home?  That isn't the plan though.
     What has happened?  God and the Bible has been kicked out of most places and groups in the United States of America.  Prayer (doctors say it helps people heal) has been kicked out of schools and forbidden in so many venue's that we are left wondering what is next.  Yet, society seems to need two things amidst this time and place.  They are looking for someone to blame and they are looking for someone to take care of their every need.  Drop the kids off at daycare, send them to school, they go home alone afterwords and watch violent shows on the TV.  Later that evening, because there are no parents who care, they go out and rob and kill for thrill or boredom.  When caught, the parents, groups, and whomever claims that it's someone else's fault.  Where is the accountability?  We have plenty of people wanting to hold us accountable but refuse to be accountable themselves.  Then to be accountable to what?  The moral compass has shifted and God is no longer sought for healing and direction.
     What hasn't happened?  People haven't taken the time to self examine themselves without comparison to their past.  I don't care how bad you had it.  I don't care if you couldn't have the designer jeans and shoes.  I don't care if you are only earning minimum wage.  I don't care if you have had 3 babies before the age of 18.  I don't care if any of this is going on.  I DO care if you say those magical words:  "It was my choice."  The problem and solution begin here.  Let's get away from the belief in entitlement.  Deal with it.  That's the message of the Gospel.  Either you are a new creation or not.  The old has passed away and the new has come or not.  You live with a future hope or you do not.  All of those are your choices.  It's my choice too.  So why do we choose that which is destructive over that which is constructive?
     What has taken over?  Selfishness in a word.  We are a selfish people with a selfish plan with only selfish needs the object of all our energies.  Children become a bother, bosses become the enemy, family supports your selfishness instead of calling you on it.  Your gang member 18 year old who was shot in a drive by was not a "wonderful young man who visited his grandma every Sunday."  He was a gang member and YOU let him be.  Your family let him be.  Your community let him be.  Why?  Because you wanted someone to look worse than you so that you could feel good about your selfishness. 
     Okay, we are on the edge of destruction.  You can choose what gets destroyed.  Your selfishness and sense of entitlement or your standing firm and being an accountable and productive product of God's doing.  What's it going to be?