The Gift of God's Word
Those who have spent any quality time with me know that I have a passion for Scripture. When I dive into it, I can spend endless hours unpacking, researching the languages, and unearthing the mystery of whom God shows Godself to be. It is like unraveling a thread of a great tapestry and weaving it back together in ways like only the guidance of the Holy Spirit can do. I was blessed to come from a long line of women, from generation to generation, who shared this unquenchable thirst for the Word of God. My mother, Carol, and her mother, Irene, and on and on....their lifetimes of devotion sewn into the very fabric of my being, my cellular makeup.
This time in our country is one of division and fueled tensions of what it means to love one another. Each side of the political line confident that they know what it is to behave and vote "as a Christian" or from a place of spiritual wholeness. The tribal derision of the other is just as prevalent today as in the ancient days. These same imbalances of justice vs. mercy, oppression vs. victory, grace vs. judgement, and tolerance vs. exclusion.
Months ago a friend of mine stated that she was a Christian, yet she didn't read the Bible. I asked, "How do you even know what Christians should believe without studying what it is?" The response was flippant, as if she was born into it and that was that. Now I understand that not everyone is called to seminary, or to be in ministry full time. I know that my passions are not going to be everyone's desires. However, when the entire history of our country, and the world for that matter, has endured bloodshed and injustice by the hands of people who have claimed to do it out of the direction of God's will....each one of us has a responsibility to know the Word and show the world that was not of God. To claim one's values on a tradition in which one is ignorant of is part of the problem in our society.
All of us will be convicted of what the Word says in different ways. That is the beauty of it, the Livingness of it. I am not here to judge what makes a Christian and what doesn't, or that one has to be be a Christian for that matter. It is simply a struggle for me when people have a belief and find a Scripture to back those beliefs, instead of the other way around. Yet the other extreme is legalism.
The light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5
The points I am attempting to talk about are the tensions that exist today in our country and around the world are not new. They have not come about by a new president or a vote. They were always there and now they have had a light shone upon them. People can choose to stick their head in the sand and tell people to "get over it," or they can be called into action. Jesus himself got angry, fed up with corruption and the oppressive domination of those whom had power. Yet, in this same book Jesus healed the son of an official of Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, a man who's service was a part of the "establishment." So what does this tell us? What is behind the anger and what is behind the compassion? Fear, sadness, empathy, and love to name a few. That deep-seated realization that people and / or creation are not living into the covenant in which God made with us. Yet Jesus continues to reach out and heal amongst the insurmountable pain and division in the world.
Attempting to be cliche, it's like that starfish story of "to this one it matters." Reaching out to the least of these. (paraphrase Matt 25:45) So this blog is not to give a voice to or my opinion of a party or the election, but it is to urge people to dive into Scripture and allow God to reveal Godself to you. Go in without backing your opinions or beliefs, but truly let the Word of God reform your very self. Coming to God with humility and the willingness to put oneself in the place of the other...the broken, the downtrodden, the widow, the orphan, the Samaritan, the oppressed. When one ceases to judge and simply love one another, then peace, understanding, healing division, and ultimately Christlike agape happens.
