Beginning to Process Current Events
I am posting here a copy of a response to current events that I wrote on Facebook on January 6, so that those who are not on Facebook have opportunity to interact with how I am processing the events that have occurred in the culture around us. This is not a final statement on my part, it is, in my mind, simply laying another stone in the path along the way to our spiritual destination.
I believe we are called in Christ to think about our world and our place in it as followers of Jesus. We are to understand both our world and our place through the lens of Christ, who He is, what He has done, and what His plan for the world is. I also believe that thinking as Christ in and about the world should be followed by acting as Christ in the world. We cannot afford to neglect or avoid either if we are to be fully faithful to our calling in Christ.
So here is a window into my thinking as I seek to understand my world through the lens of Christ and respond accordingly:
It is sobering to read and hear people who supported violent protests for months now condemn such protests from their philosophical opponents. It is equally sobering to read and hear people who condemned violent protests for months now support such protests from their philosophical allies. And what is most sobering, to my mind, is that having spent more than a year nurturing an “us vs them” cultural mentality, we are now all aghast that our efforts have come to fruition.
I cannot say that I expect another way of thinking or course of action from those whose demonstrated worldview is tied to what the Bible calls “this world and the things of the world,” but for those who claim a Source of meaning and purpose in Christ, have you who so easily fall into the trap of labeling and categorizing and villainizing others forgotten Jesus, what He said and what He did?He said, “No greater love has any man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” He then said, “I have called you friends.” He called them friends who were not by nature any friend of His. He named them friends because He chose to lay down His life, in love, for those who were His enemies in order to make them His friends. There is not a one of us who may claim to be a friend of God without having first been made a friend by God through Jesus Christ. Remember? Remember!I know that there are many convinced that unless their personal philosophical approach wins the day, we are all lost. The fact is, we are all already lost, and only when Christ wins our hearts and faith will we be truly found. And I mean “win” not merely in a one time expression of belief, but in an ongoing, life-changing, life-defining, hope-producing, glory-yielding, holiness-nurturing, God-honoring, Christ-exalting, Spirit-filled commitment lived out following the words and works of Jesus moment by moment in both what we believe and in what we do.
I wonder, if those who bow the knee and heart to Christ would follow Him by laying down their lives to win enemies into friendship with Him, how much different these days might have been? I wonder how much different today and tomorrow can be if I start now . . .
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