Majoring on the minors

It seems the House of Representatives first priority is to obtain the tax records of President Trump when the Democrats take over in January. What a waste of time! In the first place, any bill they pass to accomplish that will not pass the Republican controlled Senate, and if it did it would be vetoed by the President. Once again, our elected leaders are willing to waste time and money to accomplish nothing.

In the second place, are there not far more important challenges facing America than the president's tax records? Frankly, I could care less what the president made, and I don't know anyone who does except for a few people who are still bitter that Clinton was defeated. I am much more concerned about the ongoing wars and their cost in human lives, the violence that is rampant across our nation, the epidemic of drug abuse that is destroying families, the increased numbers of suicide, our crumbling infrastructure, the plight of the American farmer, the problems we have due to the large numbers of illegal aliens coming into our country and a host of other problems. It seems to me that the House has far more important things to do than to waste their time trying to get President Trump's tax records.

Third, it seems if it is so crucial to American democracy to know how much the president filed on his taxes it should be just as important to know how much each member of Congress filed, their finances before they were elected to office, their finances today and the sources of that money. When I read reports of the wealth of certain members of Congress, many of whom are demanding this inquiry into the president's tax records, I have to wonder how one can earn that amount of money they've accumulated since entering office. Maybe Congress would like to do an inquiry on its own members just to assure the American people that everything is on the up-and-up in Congress.

While there are many reasons behind this action from the House, it is another example of how people supposedly in places of leadership waste time majoring on the minors instead of focusing on what should be priorities. It happens in government, it happens in the business world, and it happens in churches.

The Great Commission is very clear about the mission of the church. Evangelism and discipleship should be the focus of every congregation regardless of size. This is what we are called to do. Yet, look at any church budget and see how much of that budget is set aside for evangelism and discipleship. Look at any church calendar and determine for yourself how much time is spent on evangelism and discipleship. The church today is focused on many things while evangelism and discipleship is often set aside, and we wonder why our churches continue to decline and our member's lives are little different than the lives of those who are not Christians.

Until the church recaptures its biblical mission it will continue its decline into irrelevancy. A lot of organizations provide social services. There are a lot of places people can go for entertainment. What many churches think is important to offer people can be obtained elsewhere, but there is no place that offers the life-changing message of the Gospel but the church. It is the preaching of the Word of God that brings people to a relationship with Jesus Christ, and it is the teaching of that Word that helps people grow as disciples. There is nothing wrong with the church offering these other things I've mentioned, but its primary focus must be on the mission God gave it. Let's not lose sight of what should be our primary purpose.

I also hope our political leaders will return to what should be their primary focus which is addressing the real challenges facing our country. I'm growing quite weary of watching them act like spoiled children and wasting their time and our tax dollars focusing on minor issues while our nation continues to suffer real problems.