One of my favorite bands, Tenth Avenue North, just released a song called “Love Anyway”. It talks about the great divide in our country and how sometimes it seems impossible to reach across it. We’ve built some pretty big walls on the pillars of politics and social issues. Have we learned nothing from history?
What troubles me more, though, is that as Christians, we are held to a different standard. An impossible one.
I thought about this the other day as I saw the 4,000 immigrants coming from South America to reach the U.S. And I remember how Jesus saw the crowds and had compassion on them. He healed them and fed them. Of course, He had the power to multiply the loaves and fishes, but it made me wish in that moment that we, too, could reach the needy with those loaves and fishes.
Then I thought about the fear that comes through when race meet race. When those in authority misuse that authority or when those who fear them lash back. I’ve said it before and I stand on this truth. Jesus wasn’t white or black, He was brown. And that pretty much makes Him a perfect mix of our colors.
Pick a social issue – name your passion – there are going to be other people who disagree with you. But again, I say, if we name the name of Christ, how should we then live? Jesus said that if you hate your brother you are no better than if you had killed him. Hate/murder – Jesus put them together because they come from the same heart attitude.
Love doesn’t act out of anger or hate. “The wrath of man does not fulfill the righteousness of God.” We accomplish nothing that holds meaning when we act in anger or hatred.
Trouble is – both sides believe that they are right and no one is budging. Where is the hand extended in compassion?
I know the issues we face are complicated. Boy do I wish I could give a solution and help fix it all. Would a billion dollars do it? If we feed the four thousand, how do we feed the next group of five thousand? Or what about the homeless problem all across the west coast?
And again I thought about Jesus’ words to His disciples when they wanted to send the five thousand away. “You feed them,” he said.
Now before you think I’m suggesting something I’m not, let me say that I know that we aren’t God and one meal doesn’t fix an ongoing problem. But it’s the attitude, the compassion that Jesus carried with Him everywhere He went that He wants us to emulate. He touched the lepers and ate with the outcasts. He preached repentance and lived love.
I wonder what would happen to the social issues in this land if we stopped trying to look for human solutions and did our own repenting and asked God for His powerful help and lived love wherever He sent us to go.
Can we, at least as a church – the church worldwide, not just one denomination or small community – but as a whole – see the things that rile us and look up and seek what God has in mind as a plan to help us?
May we consider Jesus’ compassion and imagine what this world will end up like if we don’t begin to do the same.
~Selah
#livegrace #loveanyway #lovelikejesus #godhassolutions #wedesperatelyneedjesus
