A Little Word that Packs a Big Punch

If.  It's such a little word.

That little word is often part of very important phrases.  Quite often the "if" is followed by a "then".

Perhaps at some point you gave or received a graduation card with that word on it.  "If" is the title of a Rudyard Kipling poem which often adorns graduation cards.

It begins this way:

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

 

Eventually the poem ends with an implied then:

 

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

 

If you can accomplish all the things the poem talks about, if you can achieve the kind of character qualities named in the poem, then you will have achieved maturity and success.

Parents often use that word when dealing with their children.  If you do this or if you don't do that, certain consequences can be expected.  For example, "if you do that again, then I'm going to ________."

There are numbers of if/then statements in Scripture.  Perhaps one of the best known is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

That verse is often quoted as we bemoan the state of our country.  As we think about things like declining church attendance or a shift in cultural values.

And we think.......if only those unbelievers would change their ways.  If only we could experience another Great Awakening.  If only all those people would go to church.  If only all those pagans would get saved.

Certainly it would be wonderful to experience a great spiritual reawakening in this country.  It would be wonderful to see more and more people coming to belief in Christ. 

But look closely at that verse.  It is not a verse about what pagan, unbelieving people should do.

If who?  My people.

 

Whose people?  God's people.

 

And if God's people do what?

• Humble themselves
• Pray
• Seek God's face
• Turn from their wicked ways

 

Then what will happen?

 

"Then will I [God] hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land."

 

If.

 

Such a little word.  But it packs such a powerful punch.

 

Do we want our world to change?  Do we want to see revival in our land? 

 

We know what we need to do.  God has spelled it out for us here very clearly. 

 

What are we waiting for?

 

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."  (2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV)

originally posted February 9, 2015