Week #44: The Post I Didn't Want To Write.

My 2016

Week #44

The Post I Didn't Want To Write.

I thought long and hard about whether or not to even mention the presidential election, and to be honest, I don't want to.

But a while ago I wrote a blog post about a similar issue, and a lot of what I said could be applied to this situation. I'm going to post some of it in here, because I think that people, especially those who are believers, need to re-evaluate the way their reactions and responses to this election result are being perceived and how they are affecting those around them. 

Disclaimer: 

I AM NOT SPEAKING TO A POLITICAL PARTY.

I am not speaking to Republicans. 

I am not speaking to Democrats. 

I am not speaking to conservatives. 

I am not speaking to liberals. 

I am speaking to believers. I am speaking to people who call themselves Christians, evangelicals, to people who claim to follow Christ throughout their lives and seek to demonstrate His love to others. This is in NO WAY a declaration of my personal political views, nor is it to be taken as such. 

*** 

I've often heard people say that one day, we will be at the throne of God worshipping and praising Him, all the while surrounded by everyone that has hurt and wronged us, everyone we were estranged from in life...and it won't matter because everything will be forgiven, made new, and forgotten. But here's my question:

Why don't we strive for that now?

Yes, it's not fully attainable. We're sinful jerks and incomplete. We won't be complete until we reach eternity. But why do we not try harder to forgive, to let go, to forget and to love each other on this earth like we will in the new one? We keep to such a narrow-minded view of things, griping about the people we can't stand and the hurtful, stupid things they do. We continue to talk about what's to come, thinking that the reborn world will fix everything. And it will, of course it will...but why do we not even attempt to create a semblance of that within our churches, our communities, and our nation?

Christians strive to fashion their lives after the example of Jesus. At least, that's what we so often claim to do. (I'm calling myself a failure in that department just as much, if not MORE, than anyone else. Just FYI.) But when you look, really look at the life of Jesus--you see that before Jesus drew people to Him, He simply...loved them.

He looked through their flaws and instead, saw their potential.                                            
He gazed beyond their past and instead, saw their future.
He did not dismiss their uncertainty or hesitation, but instead offered His embrace of comfort and reassurance.
                                                           
To put it plainly, Jesus loved people so completely and through that overwhelming love, brought people to Himself. How do we take such a simple way of living and make such a complicated mess?

This is where things get sticky. I scroll through social media lately, and all I see is believers (followers of Jesus, sinners saved by His forgiveness and love) spewing disgust, shock and ridicule at other believers (also just as much sinners who have been redeemed) who in turn retaliate with anger, resentment and cruelty.

I'm going to say this, and it is harsh. I have no doubt that some people will be offended, but I am so convicted and burdened by what I have seen.

When the presidential election results were announced, the church (as well as all evangelicals, no matter what party you're affiliated with) was given an INCREDIBLE opportunity to show the entire nation--a nation that was immediately divided, wounded, and crippled with fear--how Christ loves them. We were all handed a chance to completely change the way Christians are viewed in the world, and especially in our country.

And we failed miserably.

The portrait that Christians have painted of Jesus on Facebook over the last few days is grotesquely unrecognizable. It is an embarrassment and a source of shame to me, as I know it must be to many others who have tried their best to stay away from the line of fire. How can we even begin to love the world like Jesus, to function as a unified body with one love and one goal, when we can't even manage to love each other that way? It is heart wrenching.

My pastor made a statement one time about unity, and it has stuck with me for a long time.

"It is not our beliefs, our worship practices, or our morality that binds us together. 

It is our condition of mind."

I wish I could shout over the computer screen to you, because I feel it is worth shouting. Our political beliefs are not what binds us together as the body of Christ! It is our desire to be Jesus to those around us. It is our longing to bring others to a place where they can experience His grace and His love. Our beliefs don't hold us together. There will always be deviations. There will always be those who think differently from you on certain issues. That's just life. But the command of God to love people, to show His patience, his sacrificial kindness and his constant forgiveness should be the one thing in which all Christians can join together. It should be what Christians are known for.

With the recent election of Donald Trump, believers are so caught up in hurling accusations at those they disagree with...when all we need to be doing is loving each other despite our differences of opinions. I have seen people complain about how corrupt America has become and how far we have strayed from our Christian heritage. But can we honestly say that our response to events like this has been appropriate? Can we truthfully state that we are trying to turn people's gaze to Christ, or are we actually just drawing deeper battle lines and clawing across them, snatching back our conditional love from those who aren't like us?

Years ago, I found this quote by Philip Yancey, and I feel that it is especially appropriate now.

"Jesus honored the dignity of people, whether he agreed with them or not...The person was more important than any category or label. How easy it is to join the politics of polarization, to find myself shouting across the picket lines at the "enemy" on the other side....[but] Jesus' love cuts across lines...and dispenses grace. From Jesus I learn that, whatever activism I get involved in, it must not drive out love and humility, or otherwise I betray the kingdom of heaven."

If Jesus looks down at us and the way we are living on earth, He would see that we trample people's dignity, slap a label on their disposition, and point a glaring spotlight at their differences. How much sorrow we must bring to the heart of God. He gave us the perfect example of how to live, and instead we take the parts of that example that we want and throw them in the world's face, changing a message of hope, forgiveness and unfailing love to one of condemnation, judgement and humiliation.

I don't know what it will take for us to put aside our differences, our disagreements and our sinful stubbornness...but I believe that when we do,

That is when we will truly begin to change the world.