“You are what you love because you live toward what you want.” I underscored that line in some of my reading. It reminded me of one the most helpful pieces of counsel I received years ago from a fellow minister: “People do what they want to do.”

When I heard Charlie say that my initial reaction was one of, “Okay, and?” But as the years have worn on and I have suffered some slings and arrows in ministry, and have learned a few things, his words carry more power than ever for me. He expressed what Smith expressed in his book You Are What You Love, namely, that we are inescapably teleological/purpose-driven creatures. We will live toward something—whether that’s God, self, family, career, power, wealth, or whatever.

When one surveys the polarization of the West today, the divisions could not be more overt:

Borders	Vs.	Borderlessness
Prosecution of Crime	Vs.	Thugocracy; Nihilism
Traditional Family	Vs.	Eradication &/or Mockery of Traditional Family
Sanctity of Human Life	Vs.	Infanticide; Abortion of ‘Undesirables’
Fiscal Responsibility	Vs.	Debt, Debt, & More Debt
Character	Vs.	Skin Color; Pronouns; Group Identity

And so, I ask myself, what does it appear the West is living toward? The dividing lines are so clear, but what they reveal (one of the things, anyway) is that the two ways are irreconcilable. It’s either revival or bust, as one pundit phrased it. Either we are going to prosecute crimes or we’re not. Either we believe that children should be raised by their mother and father, or that’s just silliness, and all of world history should be ignored. Either we judge people by their character, or we judge them based off the pigment of their skin or how many colors they’ve painted their hair. But the principle remains the same: irreconcilability. One or the other worldview will triumph. We live toward what we want. My hope and prayer for my nation, and for what’s left of Western Civilization, is that we once again return to want the right things.