Whether or not Q is real, whether or not the military will save us, it cannot change your actions today. You have control over what you control, and no control over what you cannot control. You will be held to account to God for how you decide to act within the realms where you have power to act. Thus, you must focus exclusively on what you can do and should do, and how best to execute on it.
At the top of the priority list should always be your devotion to God. God demands we worship him and him alone. This means you must study out who God is and how to properly worship him. This is not for the faint of heart -- even studying and practicing for a lifetime is not enough to understand what this means. Every thought must be directed to him. Every prayer to him. Every action to him. Every offering to him.
From here, all things branch out. The Two Great Commandments, available both in the Old and New Testaments, is to "Love God" and "Love your neighbor". How to love God? With all your heart, might, mind and strength. How to love your neighbor? As yourself. What does love mean? We in modern society think of love as a feeling, but it is an action, and act, something you do and not feel.
The Ten Commandments branch from these, and cover the most basic elements of proper actions. It is clear from these commandments that God values honesty, fidelity in marriage, family life, and property ownership. Of course, we can go through the Old and New Testaments and find multiple explicit commandments or punishments for disobedience. Again, a lifetime of study is not enough time to learn how to act rightly before God.
Let's bring this home to our modern times and our modern understanding.
- Get married, stay married, and practice sexual activity only in marriage. Any extra-marital sexual act is forbidden. That means no porn, no adultery, no pre-marital sex. No divorce! But on a higher level, this is a devotion to family life. No greater happiness exists than fulfilling your duty in your family. And the reverse, No greater sadness exists than failing your duty in your family. Bear lots of children, more than you can handle. No one ever said, "I wish I didn't have so many kids!" Spend all of your efforts teaching and raising your kids. No physical treasure compares to well-raised kids.
- Get rich. This isn't optional. How do you get rich? Write a budget. Spend less than you earn. Earn more. Build an emergency fund. Get out of debt. Acquire investments assets -- real estate being a major one. Become truly self-sufficient with a garden and animals you raise and eat. Dave Ramsay has a lot of advice on how to get rich and how to behave as a rich person.
- Get educated. The idea that the purpose of education is to learn "practical skills" is absurd. Real education is about developing the proper and right character and attributes. Real education starts with the Bible and a whole lot of time praying and seeking truth. Of course you are going to incorporate other methods and materials.
- Get strong. "Physical strength is the most important thing in life" as Rippetoe says. It doesn't matter what you have if you are physically incompetent and require a wheelchair or medicine just to cope with life. People bound to wheelchairs and who require medicine just to live know what a great gift it is to have a body that works -- so keep your body in the best physical condition you can get it!
When we have enough people living rightly, with strong families, personal and familial real wealth, and a true and real education, physically fit, then we can talk about become self-governing. Until that point, however, we are far to weak in one way or the other to matter, and easily manipulated or controlled.
The first goal is to learn to govern yourself, then to govern your family, then to govern your community and finally your nation. If you cannot govern yourself, you cannot govern your family. And so on.
Wonderful post And the way we should all strive to live. God has always been a part of my life. I gave myself over to Christ years ago. I will have been married for almost 46 years.
My hubby and I are not perfect and we still have our arguments (mostly over petty things) but we still are together in spite of all we have been through. Sometimes I think my hubby just likes to argue for arguments sake. No one will ever know the struggles some couples go through but we have stuck through it all.
The only advice I can give you for a long marriage is to make sure you trust the person you marry. We were together for 5 years before we actually got married. Take the time to get to know the person you want to marry and make sure you can TRUST THEM and give them all your trust, too.
Everything else requires a little give and take. Keep your sense of humor. It will come a long way in ironing out those wrinkles. And always be respectful even when you fight.
My mom (RIP) studied at a university to become a marriage counselor. There was a professor, I think from University of Washington, back in the 90s, who could predict with something like 90% accuracy whether a couple would stay together or not.
The trick?
Couples that are nice to each other stay together.
It takes a lot to be pleasant and forgiving almost all of the time. But it is generally enough.
In my own ministry, I have seen that marriages that last last because both husband and wife put 100% in, and leave nothing behind. 99% is not enough. And it doesn't work if only one spouse is putting 100% in. "Til death do we part" should really be, "I refuse to surrender and I will do whatever it takes to make this marriage work."