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.

February 3, 2022

 

Look in the Mirror

 

‘“Why has the LORD dealt thus with this great city?”

And they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and worshipped other gods and served them.”’

-- Jeremiah 22:8-9

 

They cry out for God to intervene. They loudly ask people to pray for God to return, to turn our nation around and back to Him. They point fingers and spew hard words at anyone who disagrees. They pray even as they harden their hearts toward others. They fail to see themselves as they really are.

 

Our nation is so very polarized. We have those who proclaim their faith even as they hold up individuals as saviors. They demand laws to protect themselves from those who aren’t like them. And they use the Bible to justify their actions. Can’t they see who they really are?

 

You can’t truly love God while you hate others who were made in His image. You can’t love like Jesus while demanding that others stay out of “your” country. You can’t minister to the poor while your words and hardened hearts blame them for their poverty.

 

We have become a nation that worships ourselves and our own agendas. We are a people who proclaim our rights even as we demand that others get out of our way so we can do as we please. We are more interested in our possessions – money, cars, homes – than people. We have filled our churches with modern-day Pharisees who claim to know God intimately but who have missed Him amongst all our rhetoric.

 

Why is our country torn apart? Because we have made gods of ourselves rather than worshipping the one, true God. Look in the mirror. Examine your own heart. Stop justifying yourself with lies.

August 20, 2018

Fix Yourself First

“And when the people ask, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’” – Jeremiah 5:19

We want to put God back in our schools. We want to put prayer back in our public meetings. We want to place carved images of the Ten Commandments on public property. We are convinced that doing these things will lead to a revival in our country. We know that doing these things will decrease violence, drug abuse, gang activity, and general unlawfulness.

But will any of those things change your heart? Will any of those things put God back in your home? Will any of those things cause you to rearrange your priorities so that God is first at all times, no matter the cost or sacrifice?

We want our world to change for the better but we don’t want to be part of that change. We call for others to do things. We pray “thy will be done” when we really mean “my will be done.”

We harden our hearts toward foreigners and those who don’t look like us. We brush aside those who face financial challenges, being quick to blame them while tightly holding on to what we have. We aren’t going to share. Nope. No way. They can work hard and get their own stuff.

We like our stuff. We cling to it as though we’ll have it forever. We act as though now is all there is. We believe that no one is more important than self. Well, maybe family so long as they exalt us.

We don’t see anything wrong with our behavior. We don’t recognize the double-standard. We’re so busy condemning abortion and homosexuality that we miss love and mercy, grace and compassion. We judge what isn’t ours to judge. We cast out people that God loves. We call ourselves justified. Our sins call us condemned.

Except for the blood of Jesus. We’re quick to point that out. He saved us and we’re headed to heaven – along with everyone we like. We can’t imagine that God wants to save murderers and rapists, white-trash and foreigners. We act as though God couldn’t possibly want anyone who isn’t like us. Does anyone else see the hypocrisy? Jesus ate with tax collectors, fallen women, those who were poor and cast out. The Pharisees were furious. Jesus didn’t care.

But we care. We want all the perks of being Christ followers without all the dirtiness of associating with “sinners.” We want all our toys, our electronics, our nice cars, our big houses, without having to sacrifice anything for the Church or orphans or widows or foreigners. We are like young children yelling “mine!” even though everything really belongs to God.

Some people don’t believe the Bible, especially the Old Testament, is relevant today. I would invite them to read Jeremiah. This great prophet warns God’s people of His coming wrath but they didn’t believe him. They couldn’t understand how God could possibly let His people be captured by Babylon. They kept thinking God would change his mind, even when they refused to change their hearts and their behavior.

Do you want to fix our country? Do you want to turn it back toward Christ? Then start at home. Pray without ceasing. Live with compassion and kindness. Share freely. Give to God first, trusting Him with all your needs. Be His light in this dark world. Stop waiting for someone else to lead the way. Start where you are. Change your heart. And watch how powerfully God shows up to change your life.

March 2, 2018

Are You Listening?

But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me; because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. – Ezekiel 3:7

And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.” – Ezekiel 3:11

Are you listening to God? Or are you so focused on what you believe that you miss what God actually says?

The other day I shared a quote about how harsh judgements push people away from God while the light of God reflected in us draws people near. I was amazed, though not surprised, by how many people didn’t “like” the comment. Why? Because it spoke directly to what they do and say.

I am always appalled at the hatred and pure meanness that comes from the mouths and actions of people who claim faith in Jesus. I wonder if they have ever read the Bible. Do they really see and hear how Jesus dealt with people? Can’t they understand how He loved people first, then showed them a better way?

But their hearts have been hardened against the truth of the gospel. They are so busy judging that they miss the love they’re supposed to show. It doesn’t mean excusing sin. It means drawing people toward Jesus rather than pushing them away.

It’s not about Jesus. I know that even if they don’t. They’re too focused on being “right” to actually see and hear the way Jesus sees and hears us. We have failed to become like Paul, so filled with gratitude for what Jesus has done for us that we will do whatever we can to serve Jesus and spread His gospel to the lost and broken.

The Israelites didn’t want to hear Ezekiel either. This prophet, who was exiled to Babylon, spoke God’s truth but it fell on silent ears. We’re much the same. We prefer to surround ourselves with like-minded people rather than fill our hearts with His Word. We call ourselves justified. I call it being a modern-day Pharisee.

Now those are the ones who will definitely bring out the anger in Jesus. No matter how loving and kind Jesus was to the people who flocked to Him, Jesus was furious with the rule-makers who held themselves above everyone else. Attending church, wearing the right clothes and giving the right amount of tithe, doesn’t cleanse your soul from pride. Looking down on the masses, the liberals, those who are poor, doesn’t justify your condemnation of those you view as “lesser” than yourself.

God still speaks loudly to all of us if we will only listen. But our hearts are too hard and our eyes too blind to see the truth of His message. Our nation is falling away from His truth and the ones leading the way are those most loudly proclaiming Him as Lord. He is Lord – but not of their hearts.

What are you missing in His message today? What untruth do you believe because the conservative masses tell you it’s so? What are you doing to promote healing, to shine His light on this dark world? If you aren’t reaching out in kindness to those you consider to be the least, then you aren’t listening to anything He’s saying.