SELECTIONS FROM NUMBERS 25:6-13 (Holman Christian Standard Bible) 

An Israelite man came bringing a Midianite woman to his brothers in plain view of Moses and the whole Israelite community.... When Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he got up from the assembly and took a spear in his hand. Then he followed the Israelite man into the tent, and pierced both of them through, the Israelite man and the woman, through her belly....

The LORD spoke to Moses: "Phinehas ... turned back My wrath from the Israelites because he displayed My zeal among them, so that in My zeal I did not finish off the Israelites.... He was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.' "  

LOOK AT IT THIS WAY

Some things are worth fighting for. And our families are one of the biggest. We tend to start by bashing the media and the movies. And certainly they carry their share of the blame. But some of the culprits come in much different cloaks. Like sixty-hour workweeks that run into months. And Saturdays at the golf course (ouch, that hurt). Even church meetings that take up three nights in a row. Sometimes we've got to put our foot down and say that our family needs us more than anyone else does. It's the right thing to do.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism. We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alter native lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it a choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building their self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbors' possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with pro fanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored val ues of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, O God, and know our hearts today. Try us and see if there be some wicked way in us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free.

 - Joe Wright, in a prayer before the Kansas state legislature

FINAL THOUGHT

It's easy to sit around decrying the ills of society. But when did you last stand up and do something constructive to fight evil, to champion the cause of righteousness?