August 28, 2024

                Follow Jesus First

Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

– Galatians 1:10

What do you believe? What faith are you living? Do you even know?

Our country is so divided politically and religiously. Loud voices mock those who disagree with what they believe. Silence fills our minds as stress hardens our hearts.

It’s so much easier to go along with the crowd. I live in Trump country. I cannot understand the infatuation with a man who continues to lie, call others names, and basically bully and condemn anyone who dares to disagree with him.

Some of my Christian friends assure me that they aren’t voting for the man but rather the principles he follows. No abortion. Close the border. Balance the budget. Take care of the United States first and then Israel. No one else.

Except he isn’t doing that. His abortion stance? Let the states handle it. Close the border? He demanded that his followers in Congress vote against a bi-partisan bill to stop border crossings. Why? Because it looks better for him if the border remains wide open.

Balance the budget? Sure. But let’s not get rid of the pork. Let’s cut social security and any funds aimed at helping children. Let’s balance the budget on the backs of the middle class and poor while rolling out tax cuts and handouts to the wealthy.

Obviously, we all want to take care of our own country and our veterans. And we do support Israel – but not without conditions. The Bible shows us again and again that the Israelites do sometimes turn from God. We should never assume that blindly supporting Israel is what God wants.

We also shouldn’t behave as though we live in a vacuum not impacted by what’s going on around the world. We tried that once before. Then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and we were forced to look directly at evil and respond.

None of that is popular in the Deep South. But I’m not here to win a popularity contest. I am here to follow Jesus. So are you. 

Neither political party gets it all right or all wrong when it comes to following the Bible. But choosing to follow someone who arrogantly disregards basic character traits of a godly man isn’t the answer. It’s way past time that we stop blindly following men and start truly following our God.

August 25, 2024

                    Start With Love

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”

– Leviticus 19:33-34

They walk. They swim. They come by boat or cargo truck. They sacrifice everything, sometimes even their lives, to seek something better for themselves, their children and their extended families.

We don’t know their stories. We don’t care. We see the illegal crossings, the financial burden, the “threat” to what we erroneously see as ours. Our hardened hearts demand a stop to it all.

We are Christians.

Some conservatives rush to explain the Hebrew words and talk about illegal aliens and what this scripture really means. They are “justifying” hatred and lack of compassion.

Some liberals hurry to use these two verses as a reason to open the border completely and demand that our government provide unlimited money to help them all. Isn’t that what God would want, they ask.

Love. Maybe that’s the key word. Love. God loved us enough to send His Son to die on a cross for our sins. God is love. Jesus told us to love God and to love our neighbors.

But evil has dulled our senses to the point of hatred to all those who aren’t like us. We see it in the racial divide. We see it in the difference in neighborhoods and bank accounts. We “need” to be financially better than others. We “need” for everyone to be like us. We “need” to justify our hatred that we direct toward people we don’t even know.

This is a complicated issue with many, many points of view. Do we need to do something? Absolutely. But do not mock God by claiming faith and then turning away from those created in His image. In all things, show love and kindness and compassion. That is what God requires from us.

June 21, 2018

What Does Your Heart Say?

“Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” – Mark 7:15

“For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

– Mark 7:21-23

What would you do to save your child’s life? Would you move? Would you scrape together all the money you could to afford something different? Would you break laws, take chances, risk everything, so your child could be safe?

Be honest. It’s just between you and God. Tell Him what you would do to save your child from death, torture, a life of crime and violence. Now tell parents from another country that they shouldn’t dare do that for their children.

The immigration issue in the United States is awful. There are no easy answers. Should our country protect its borders? Absolutely. Should people enter legally rather than violating our laws? Without a doubt.

Unfortunately, there’s more to the story. These are human beings with thoughts and feelings. They are people who, in many cases, are filled with fear and a desperation few can understand.

According to news reports, the average time for a person to come before an immigration judge is two years from the time of application. That works great if you’ve got the time. But what happens when the cartel tells your child that he now works for them and if he says no he will die? Do you hang around and wait for his death? Do you tell him to join hands with a life of violence? Or do you flee with a hope deep in your heart that God wants something better for your family?

I don’t have any answers for our country. No one seems to be able to solve this mess. Maybe we should start with being Jesus to people who are hurting. Maybe we should extend mercy and grace and compassion to people who are desperate. Maybe we should love before we judge stories we’ve never heard.

We are further traumatizing children who have been through so much. Can you imagine what it’s like to leave everything you know, fearing for your life, not knowing when you will eat or have clean clothes, only to reach safety and find yourself ripped apart from your parents? How can we call that okay?

Some argue that we’re trying to keep murderers and rapists and other violent criminals from our country. That’s obviously a good thing. But how many fit that description? Really. It’s far more likely that most of the people are good, decent folks. They aren’t criminals. They’re desperate people reaching for our crumbs and we are denying them without even trying to understand.

Maybe we need to expedite the immigration process. How many judges does it take to reduce the two-year wait? Yes, it costs money. But how much money are we spending on housing people in locked facilities? Isn’t it better to hear their cases and make decisions based on facts?

There is just so much hate in our country right now. Much of it comes from people who claim to know Jesus. I am appalled at the venom spewing from their mouths. Surely, they understand what the Bible says about love, about judgement, about mercy. But their lives don’t reflect it. Their words don’t reveal love.

Jesus says that evil comes from our hearts. What is your heart saying to the world?