laws

Who’s Trash?

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I recently ran across a Facebook post where someone was calling Elon Musk a piece of trash. I’m not about to defend Mr. Musk since I don’t really know much about him or what he stands for. I do know that it’s easier to point fingers at other people than look in the mirror (and I’m probably the first one to be guilty of that).

I’ve read my Bible, and I’m pretty sure that Elon Musk and Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are all made in the image of God. All bear the imago dei and Jesus died for every single one of them. If that’s trash, then Jesus died for trash. If that’s trash, then God made trash and I suppose that would make God trash (which He is obviously not).

That’s the worst part about elections. People can get very self-righteous and feel it’s okay to speak contemptibly about anyone who is on the “other” side of the political spectrum. Aldus Huxley said, “To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior ‘righteous indignation’ — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.”

But that is not the way of Jesus. Remember He loved His enemies. He died for His enemies. He forgave His enemies while they were in the very act of murdering Him. And that’s the standard if you call yourself a follower of Jesus.

I’ve been around long enough to know that there are no political solutions to spiritual problems. No elected official can right what’s wrong with this country? No bill or amendment or vote can legislate spiritually dead people into life. Only Jesus can do that.

I have to guard against becoming pharisaical in seeing other peoples’ flaws and overlooking my own. I can very easily become judgmental and forget that the very foundation of my faith is the grace by which I’m saved.

So who’s trash? In the eyes of God, no one. No one is beyond redemption. No one is too far gone to save. Ask the Apostle Paul, once a terrorist against Christians and later the biggest advocate for the gospel. The gospel is for everyone.

The Kingdom of God and My Expectations

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In the Gospels, there’s a part where the crowds that had been chanting hosannas about Jesus suddenly did a 180 and started shouting for his crucifixion. I”ve always wondered why the sudden about-face?

Then I got to thinking. Maybe it’s because Jesus didn’t fulfill their expectations of what the Messiah would show up and what the Kingdom He ushered in would look like.

They were fixated on the idea of a political Messiah routing the Romans and restoring the rule of Israel to the Israelites. They looked for Jesus to lead an army prepared to fight, but what they saw was Jesus teaching a rag-tag following about going the extra mile and turning the other cheek. So the crowds turned on him.

I wonder if I don’t have false expectations of the Kingdom of God. Maybe we all do.

Maybe we think of the Kingdom of God in terms of electing Christians into Congress and the Senate and getting our kinds of laws passed. Or maybe the Kingdom of God is seen as a kind of utopia where there are no poor people and where we all share and share alike.

I personally have thought of the Kingdom of God in terms of where Christians are the majority and where we have a lot of power and influence.

But the truth of the matter is that the Kingdom of God is nothing more or less than the presence of God among His people. It is His rule and reign. It is now AND not yet.

Sometimes, I’ve thought the Kingdom of God meant an uninterrupted pathway to peace and prosperity and success. I’m finding out that it’s not. More often, the Kingdom of God looks like persecution and suffering. It looks like losing.

But Jesus said that in the Kingdom, the first would be last and the least would be the greatest. He said that whoever wanted to save his life had to start off by losing it.

In my own experience, it means that I’m not promised a 100% success rate or comfort or prosperity. I am promised that Jesus will always be with me and never leave or forsake me.

I know there’s a whole lot more to the Kingdom of God, but these are some thoughts I’ve had recently and I thought I’d share them with you. May these words bring you comfort and hope and may the God of all comfort and hope be with you.

Thoughts from Deuteronomy

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I heard this from a pastor once: most people have every intention of reading through the Bible. Every intention.

They start off well, because Genesis has a good bit of action and intrigue and drama. Sort of Downton Abbey meets Ben-Hur. You get to see the story of God’s people unfolding and see where everything got its start.

Exodus is doable because it continues the storyline from Genesis. There’s more than a few rules and regulations thrown in, but there’s also the drama of God’s people making their way through the desert.

Leviticus throws most people for a loop. There are a lot more rules and a lot less action. A lot of what’s here seems far from relatable and applicable. I mean, who will be sacrificing a goat any time soon?

Numbers usually is like a punch to the solar plexus and Deuteronomy generally finishes the people off that Numbers didn’t. I mean, it seems so far removed from the mercy and grace of the New Testament.

But think of it as an unfolding love story between God and His people. At first, His people need boundaries and guidelines, as we all do when we’re growing up. We need to know that sin is serious business and that every sin demands a sacrifice and blood.

It’s the same God who shows up later in the form of Jesus. I admit I don’t completely understand how the different parts of the story mesh together, but I know that they do. All the loose ends of the plot get resolved and we do live happily ever after. Just not yet.

I see how Adam and Eve blew it in the garden. I see how the children of Israel messed up with God literally from day one. But instead of looking at the could-have-beens, I see the what-will-be. Where Adam and Eve and the Israelites failed, Jesus got it right and one day soon, everything that went wrong as a result will be put right.

That sounds like a happy ending to me.

Hank Sr and the Night Air

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I spent another night in downtown Franklin with two good friends. It was another picture perfect evening, weather wise and in every other respect. I could almost literally feel the smile of God over me as I walked with my friends and revisited my favorite spots.

On the way home, I selected Hank Williams because it felt right. I had the windows rolled down, the night air blowing in, and that plaintive voice from the past crooning me to a happy place on my way home.

Hank died over 60 years ago under mysterious circumstances that may never be fully known or understood. From what I understand, he led a very sad life. I read an apt description that he was going 90 miles an hour down a dead end street. But he could write some of the most poignant, heartfelt lyrics.

I’d rather listen to his music any day than most of what passes for country music these days. It feels mass-produced and manufactured, even though the production sounds a lot better and recording studios have come a very long way.

Sometimes, it’s good to go back. To revisit the old values and the old sayings. To remember the stories handed down through generations and the ancient wisdom time-tested and proven true.

Like this one. It is more blessed to give than to receive. If you want to save your life, you have to lose it. If you want to be treated a certain way, you have to treat others that way.

Or this. Love God with everything you’ve got and love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. That’s the Bible in a nutshell, all the laws and commandments at their purest, and everything you need to know.

Oh, I almost forgot. You can’t love God until you’ve found out how much He loves you and then received that love as your own. You can’t love your neighbors if you haven’t discovered who you are and where you belong and found that you have priceless worth as one not only created by your Abba Father, but redeemed by Him.

That’s an old truth that will never ever get old for me.

 

 

Church and State and Everything in Between

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First of all, I’d like to state for the record that both Sarah Palin and Nancy Pelosi get on my nerves, so I guess that makes me an independent.

Tonight at Kairos, Mike Glenn spoke about politics and the Kingdom of God. Basically, he said we as the Church (in general) gave up faith in the power of the Gospel and traded in the role of prophet for the illusion of political access.

We thought that if we got “our” people into office and got “our” laws passed, things would get better. But you can only pass laws to keep people from hurting their neighbors. You can’t pass laws that make people love those neighbors.

I heard a great analogy tonight. Food doesn’t change the salt, but rather salt changes the food. In the same way, the world shouldn’t change believers, but believers should be the ones changing the world. We are called to be salt, and it only takes a little salt to make a big difference.

Why do we act surprised when lost people act like lost people? Are they the problem with this country? Is it dark because the darkness killed the light?

It’s dark because the light has failed. It’s dark not because believers have been too different from the world around them, but because we haven’t been different enough.

This made me think: some people are so good at blending in with the world that even Jesus won’t be able to recognize them when He comes back.

I’ll say it again that it’s not about taking back a country (that was never really ours to begin with), but advancing a Kingdom. Our hope doesn’t lie in a President, but in a coming King who will set all things right.

Do go and vote. That’s important. But at the same time don’t put your hopes for a better future into the hands of politicians, because that has never ended well.

Long after presidents and countries and politics are no more, Jesus will still reign as King and Lord over all. Long after political parties have bit the dust and governments have fallen, Jesus will still be in charge.

That’s where my hope lies.

In the End

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I am still baffled at how much Christianity in general has become and “our side vs. their side” religion. It’s obvious that everything that’s wrong with the world is “their” fault, with “them” being any group who believes differently than us or who maybe falls into a sin category that we don’t struggle with.

I’m not sure when the end will come or what it will look like. I like to think that I am a pan-millennium person– that it will all pan out in the end. I do know this.

In the end, it won’t matter that we proved our point or showed the other side how very wrong they were. It won’t matter that we had the best arguments and the most clever billboards and bumper stickers around.

It won’t matter that we got “our” people into political office so that we could get “our” agenda and laws put in place and keep “them” from being able to destroy all life as we know it.

It will matter how much we loved people. It will especially matter how much we loved those whom we disagreed with, who sided against us, who ridiculed our beliefs, and who mocked our faith.

It will matter that instead of seeking power, we took the form of servants as our Lord Jesus did, and laid down our lives for others. It will matter that we went to the least of these.

It will matter that we gave food to the hungry, gave a drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, visited the sick and those in prison, and stood up for the outcast and downtrodden. It will matter because what we did for them we did for Jesus. Jesus Himself said so.

In the end, it’s not about taking back a country, but advancing a Kingdom and making way for a King who will make all things right again and turn this world right-side up again.