¹³ The word of the Lord came to me again: “What do you see?”

“I see a pot that is boiling,” I answered. “It is tilting toward us from the north.” (Jer. 1:13, NIV)

One of my favorite preachers in Bible college was David Owen. He was a Welsh preacher on the faculty and his accent just added to the mastery of his sermons. I can still hear him preach this passage, using the King James Version at the time. He talked about a “boiling pot… a seeeeeeettttthhhhinnnngg cauldron.”

I hear that distinctive accent in my head 20 plus years later.

And I still sense that boiling pot, especially on a day like today.

Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It is also the second inauguration for President Barack Obama. Tuesday is the 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade. We are in the middle of a huge gun control debate nationally. A remembrance of civil rights and that ongoing struggle. A controversial second term that highlights the deep divide politically in our nation. A remembrance of a court decision that has deeply divided the issue between “right to life” and “women’s rights.” A fight over the second amendment that is as rabid as a fight over Roe v. Wade.

A boiling pot. A sssseeeeeetttthhhinnng cauldron. All coming at us.

A nation deeply divided. A nation not willing to talk to each other. A church willing to divide and divide, and then divide some more.

This is the time for the people of God to truly be the people of God. We don’t seem to be very interested in that, but that is our call. To live prophetically, not politically.

The call is to live with allegiance to the Kingdom of God, not the kingdoms of this world.

Perhaps this week is a wonderful time to reflect more deeply as believers on the higher allegiances of our King and what that might mean in a very “hot” world.