I wrote on Friday of being forward looking – to building good, not just finding and correcting fault. It seems I am not alone in this assessment.

Later on Friday, Imprimus landed in my inbox. This most recent issue features an address from Kevin D. Robert, President of The Heritage Foundation entitled “Populist Conservatism and Constitutional Order.” Here are some highlights in which I have added some emphasis:

The top-down, elitist brand of politics that has dominated the United States since the end of the Cold War—under Republican and Democratic administrations alike—has failed. Yes, we are materially richer than we were in 1991, and our largest corporations are more profitable. But we are militarily and strategically weaker, fiscally endangered, and spiritually enervated. As a result, public trust in the vaunted institutions that our elites control—political, scientific, journalistic, educational, religious—has evaporated….

Thus the only hope for a sustainable, democratically legitimate populist reform movement today is on the Right. The question is whether the leaders of the movement can harness the highly negative energy from which the populism emerges and channel it toward a coherent, positive politics of national renewal and reform.

My, but that sounds familiar. As he begins his summation and prescription for the future, Roberts says:

And the institutions we need to revive—marriage and family, church and community, private enterprise and public spirit—already exist. Like flowers in a garden choked by weeds, they just need room, light, and water to grow again.

Which has me thinking about the temptation that faces churches. The reform, revival and reinvigoration of church in America is most needed and a necessary part of “making America great again.” But we are tempted to focus on the negative of the past instead of building, or rebuilding, the future. Too many want to focus of “deconstructing the system” to find its faults rather than look forward to a better future.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul says:

Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul acknowledges that he is not perfect, but he does not dwell there, rather he endeavors to be good and to do good – to reach upward.

As we head to church this Sunday morning, let us not dwell on the bad, let us, with God’s help. build the good.

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