The Bond of Salvation

 "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus."
- Galations 3: 28

We live in a divided world.  This should be no surprise to us, as we are broken people.  Each of us, no matter where we are in our lives, is broken.  The Bible teaches that we have all sinned and fallen short of God.  The evidence of that is all around us and in us.  Broken people lead to broken relationships, families, nations, and a broken world.  

People have tried to fix the world since the beginning of time, but none have succeeded.  We are still broken, and as long as we look only to others and to ourselves to mend the world, it will continue to be broken.  The truth is that there is only one thing in the world that can fix us.  Some may mock me for saying this or curse me for saying there is only one truth, but truth is not something that caves to anger.  Truth is simply what it is, and it is not ours to define.

God sent his son to Earth to fix us.  Those of us who believe this truth are fixed in the eyes of God, and we will be fully restored in the world to come.  It is a truth that should bind all believers together.  It is the one truth that should override all differences.  Though we may not see every issue the same, we must come together as brothers and sisters in Christ.  We must unite in the one thing that matters more than all else.  Division is the way of the world.  The Bible tells us to live in peace with each other as much as we can, but we live in a world that is becoming more and more hostile toward our beliefs.  If we are walking the word, complete peace with the world may not always be possible.  We should live at peace with other believers, however, as there is no conflict in this world that is greater than the bond of salvation.

We must come together and unite the church.  The world is full of people who need a savior, and we are commissioned by Christ to bring the gospel to the nations.  When we let our differences fracture the church, that mission is compromised.  Our petty differences are doing more than splitting denominations and families.  It is disabling us as a witness.  It is pushing people away from the truth.  This is not a minor flaw, but one that leads us to missed opportunities to bring people to the cross.  We need to do better.  Eternities are in the balance.

The church is made up of people of different backgrounds, races, genders, and schools of thought.  Such differences are real, but we are fools if we let those differences outweigh the truth that binds us together.  Jesus has brought us together because he loves us.  We all know that we are broken, and we all know that the blood of Jesus is what reconciles us to God.  We all should know that we are no better than each other, and that we are all in this together.

I will end this with the Bible verse that started it, with some additions.

There is no longer
Jew or Gentile,
slave or free,
male and female,
Republican or Democrat,
conservative or liberal,
white or black,
tall or short,
introverted or extroverted,
blue eyes or brown eyes,
meat eaters or vegetarians,
Yankee fan or Red Sox fan,
cat people or dog people,
Apple user or Android user,
pineapple-on-pizza people or no-pineapple-on-pizza people.
For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Assuming The Worst

We have a lot of problems in our world today.  We are a broken people in a divided society. I'm not going to rehash each specific issue here, but I do want to consider that division.  One of the things that should be great about this world is its diversity.  We are all members of different demographic groups.  Some are determined by choice, others are not.  Most of these groups, including the ones we choose, are not moral or immoral by default.  However, most of these groups are given bad reputations by a small subset of that group.  Each of these groups is made up of broken people, and broken people sometimes make bad decisions or do things that are immoral.  None of us, however, want to be judged solely based on the worst parts of the groups we are a part of.  While we are all broken, most of us are not evil.  Most of us do not want to do wrong to others.  Most of us are in the same boat: broken, yes, but generally wanting good for the world.  

What I see in the world, however, is this: many people assume the worst about the groups they are not a part of, while brushing off and excusing the worst parts of the groups we are a part of.  We nitpick the flaws in other groups and ignore the flaws in our own.  We get defensive and angry when other people lump us in with the worst parts of our groups, and yet we turn around and do the same to them.  We assume the truth behind court cases and people's intentions because of the groups certain people are a part of.  

We need to stop drawing conclusions based solely on people's demographic groups. We are not simply a list of attributes; we are a society of unique individuals who are not limited in personal scope by the groups that have been defined for us or by us.  Every person in a group is not the same, and we can differ greatly from the other members in our groups based on our personalities, life experiences, decisions, and thought processes.  We need to stop assuming things based on the groups a certain person is a member of.  We need to calm down, slow down, and carefully consider the facts in every situation.  We need to think about the unique circumstances for every individual and instance.  We need to embrace empathy and stop seeing every other person and situation through our own eyes and our own situation.  Our thoughts and experiences do not define the thoughts and experiences of every other person.  We need to take a step back from ourselves and stop assuming the worst of everybody different from ourselves in one of the many ways that each of us is different from every other person in the world.  

We need to humble ourselves and admit that we are each broken and no better than one another.  We need to admit our own shortcomings while not accentuating or exaggerating the faults of others.  We need to stop assuming the best of ourselves and assuming the worst of others.  We need to be able to step back, consider the facts, and rationally discuss those facts.  If we continue to assume the worst about each other, we will never be able to come together.  We will always be divided.

When Did We Lose the Ability to Have a Conversation?

When did we lose the ability to have a conversation?  We all have opinions on different issues, but shoving people aside and disregarding them as people simply because they disagree with us is not going to help this country and this world move forward.  It's just going to break us further apart.

When I see someone post something on Facebook saying "if you disagree with (insert topic here), please defriend me", I see someone missing the point of social media and missing the point of being individuals.  We should all be allowed to have our own opinions and discuss them without threat of losing friends or being completely dismissed.  We should all also be able to hear other people with differing viewpoints discuss those viewpoints without dehumanizing them or treating them as though they are less than we are.  I certainly hold viewpoints that would cause some other people to dismiss me.  We all do, but silencing anyone who disagrees with us is not progress.

We need to relearn how to have civil conversations with people who see things differently.  We need to respect others instead of demonizing them and always assuming the worst about their intentions.  We need to see others as people who can be reasoned with, and we need to become reasonable people ourselves.  We need to consider that our viewpoints are not always perfect and that we might just learn something from someone else.  People we disagree with are conversation partners, not enemies.  They are people, not monsters.

We are not greater or less than each other; we are simply different.  God loves us all the same.

Random Verse - Psalm 42:8

By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me — a prayer to the God of my life.
- Psalm 42:8

God is not simply a being that exists in some far off place and is uninterested in our day-to-day lives.  He is the one who created everything - all that has ever existed in the universe.  That includes billions of stars and planets and things we can't even imagine.  It also includes us.  It includes you.  God is my creator.  He formed me and molded me.  He has had my life in his hands every step of the way.  God loves me and is always at work in my life.  He is the God who loves and the one who saves.  When I look at my life, I see evidence of God all along the way.  I know he is still there, still moving in ways I cannot always see at the time.  He is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 

Thank you, Jesus, for never letting me go, though I would deserve it.  Thank you giving me life and love.  Thank you for guiding me in this life.  While I too often stray from what is right, you are always there for me, always loving me.  Thank you for your sacrifice and your forgiveness.  You are my salvation and my stronghold, and I know you will never let me go.  I love you Jesus.  Amen.

Random Verse - Psalm 16:1

Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.
- Psalm 16:1 

Every day, terrible things happen.  People die in car crashes or from cancer.  Families and marriages crumble due to the sinful actions of one.  We cannot know what tomorrow will bring.  Perhaps we will be the victims of some horrible event.  Whether purposeful, accidental, or natural, there are many things in the world that can cause us harm.  What are we to do about it?

In a word, we need to trust.  For those of us who call upon the name of the Lord, God is our refuge.  He is our stronghold.  He is the one who will keep us safe.  It would be easy to get tripped up on this point, as it depends on your definition of safe.  Yes, sometimes God will save you from a terrible situation.  Sometimes God miraculously cures that cancer or prevents that drunk driver from barreling into you.  Sometimes God stands in the way of the world and keeps you safe from its dangers.

But what about when He doesn't?

The greatest trust is not nearly to believe that God will keep you safe in this world.  God has never promised us that bad things won't happen.  He's never said that we won't have pain or suffering or have our lives cut short.  Every day we live in this world is a gift from God that we should not waste.  Yes, we should pray that God will keep us safe in the world.  We should pray for healing and rejoice when it comes.  That, however, is not the great safety that God promises us.  The truth is that each of us will, someday, die.  It is an inevitability of life.  When that comes, is it God no longer keeping us safe?  Is He no longer our refuge?  Of course He is.  The greatest trust is to know that no matter what happens to us in this world, no matter what pain we go through, and no matter how many years we are given to live on Earth, that God has our souls in His hand.  God's primary goal is not to merely keep us safe for our lives in this world, that are here today but gone tomorrow.  His primary goal is to welcome us into His kingdom to be with him for eternity.  I do not fear the world or the oncoming death, for I know that God is holding me in his hands.  He is my refuge, and He will keep me safe, forever and ever.

Random Bible Verse

In an effort to increase my writing and continue to keep this blog active, I am going to try something new.  I will be using the random bible verse page at DailyVerses.net to fuel future blog posts.  I will take the verse and reflect on it.  I will not select a new random verse if I do not like the first one provided each time.  Some of these posts may be more interesting than others, but so be it.  My comments may be a direct response to the verse, or it may be thoughts that the verse brings to my mind or stories it reminds me of.  I look at this as a writing exercise as much as it is a content driver.  I will be trying to do this a few times per week, if things go as planned.  And thus, here is the first one.

Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.
Proverbs 12:16

We live in a reactive world.  People allow themselves to be offended at every little thing somebody else says that doesn't match what they believe or how they live.  We often see people who believe differently than us as the enemy.  We insult other people with harsh words, and then throw fits when those same people insult us.  We don't take time to understand the viewpoints of other people, instead assuming the worst about them.  We assume that we are the only ones seeing things correctly, and that everybody else is foolish or stupid or selfish or evil.  We are so easily set off by the words of people we don't even know. 

It is inevitable that we will interact with people who disagree with us on many different issues.  What we cannot do, however, is simply throw insults at anybody who disagrees with us.  Such reactive emotions do nothing but raise tensions and sever relationships.  We must all learn how to have profitable discourse instead of simply yelling at each other.  When others do hurl insults at us, we must not return fire with our own harsh words.  We live in a diverse society with a free exchange of words and ideas, and that should be celebrated and not weaponized.  We should seek to understand one another and converse peacefully with those we disagree with.  In the end, none of us is perfect and none of us have a full understanding of how life works.  We need to see each other as real people of equal value instead of looking down on anybody who sees things differently. 

Crutches

"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business."
- Jesse Ventura

I remember when this quote was made years ago, back when Jesse Ventura was the governor of my state.  It is a point of view shared by many others around the world.  Many other such quotes have been made, of course, but this is the one I'm going to focus on.

Here's the kicker: I don't completely disagree with his assessment.

Just most of it.

When people say that religion is a crutch, I have this to say: they're right, and for followers of Jesus, that's the way it should be.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
- Proverbs 3: 5-6

"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
- Philippians 4: 19

God is our great provider, and part of surrendering our lives to Him is accepting that we need Him.  The Bible does not say that we are strong enough on our own, or that we do not need anything from God in order to survive and live successful lives.  No, it says to rely on Him for everything.  So yes, God is our crutch, for without Him we cannot walk.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Most importantly, salvation comes to those who believe in Jesus Christ and accept His salvation for our sins.  This is something we cannot acquire on our own: Jesus died for us, and only by leaning on that salvation can we enter Heaven once we die.  Attempting to get to Heaven on our own is foolishness.  Jesus is our crutch to get there, and accepting this truth is the only way to salvation.

When it comes to organized religion being a sham: I wouldn't stretch it that far, but I will say this: organized religion has some major problems.  Why is that?  Because the organization of religion is run by sinners like you and me.  It is run by people with major problems, just like every religious and secular organization in the world.  I do believe that Christian leaders should hold themselves up to a very high moral standard, but expecting such people to have perfect records is expecting the impossible.  The only human to ever have a perfect record was Jesus Christ.  The Christian church can be a wonderful thing that spreads the good news of Jesus, but it is still run by sinners in a sinful world.

Oh, and we're all sinners with major problems, by the way.  I couldn't do any better.

Yet I am not a Christian because of the church.  My belief in Jesus is not based on the quality of religious leadership or the inner workings of the Christian organization.  I am a Christ followers for this reason: it's true.  Don't let Christians turn you off from Christianity, because ultimately, for you, it's not about the rest of us.  It's not about how Christians behave or how sinful they are, because we're all sinners.  It's about love and salvation.  It's about your eternity.  It's about you and Jesus.
I have no doubt in my soul that Jesus Christ is not a fairy tale, and that there is a true God in Heaven looking down on me.  I believe that there was real blood shed on a real cross by a real human, and that the death of Jesus and His resurrection on the third day is the reason that I will spend eternity in Heaven.  This is not some work of fiction I enjoy, it is the truth that I follow in my life.  It impacts everything I do.

On a side note, and I have posted about this before in more detail, but we are not really meant to be religious.  Religion is man made and run by those pesky sinners.  Religion is traditional and ritualistic.  Religion is following rules for the sake of following rules.  The world sees me as religious, but I try to live beyond that.  I try to live as a follower of the one and only true God, and the choices I make are due to my belief that they are the right choices, not simply because a religion tells me so.

There are many around the world who think that anyone who believes in God is weak minded, which is just a politically correct way of calling someone stupid.  They say we invented God because we wanted to believe there is more to this life, more than just birth, death, and a few meaningless years in between.  First, it is hard to talk to anyone who thinks anyone with a differing opinion from them is "weak minded."  I would never define an atheist or otherwise non-Christian person as weak minded.  I may think they need Jesus, but that certainly doesn't mean they're unintelligent.  Also, believing in God is not something to be done only by those who turn their brains off.  To me, it is only logical that there is a God, and I cannot fathom a universe coming to existence without such a being.

Finally, Ventura is certainly right about one thing: going out and sticking their noses in other people's business.  We Christians should be involved in the lives of non-believers, so that we can minister and witness to them, giving them opportunities to accept Jesus as their savior.  Is this because we're nosy?  No, it comes down to one truth: without Jesus, everyone on this planet will be alone for eternity.  It is our duty as Christ followers to spread the gospel, not because we're trying to increase our religion's dominance or get more people to come to church.  No, we do this because the love and grace of our lord Jesus Christ compels us to, because we do not want to see anyone perish.  We share the gospel because it's true.

In closing, Christians are imperfect beings whom Jesus died for, just like everybody else.  The difference is that we have chosen to believe it.  We have chosen to accept the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.  We have accepted the fact that we need God to have a full and fulfilling life.  Even if the world chides us and does not understand, Jesus is our crutch, because without Him we cannot stand.