When We See Injustice

Social media is a very angry place right now. Even among Christians.

And I’m not talking about the righteous anger over the murder of George Floyd, and the injustices of systemic racism, or racial profiling. I’m talking about how ready people are to condemn, mock, ridicule, lash out at, and pick apart anything that differs from how they feel a situation should be viewed and responded to. It’s been like that this week, it’s been like that all through the pandemic, and in many other preceding current events. As a result, I’m wary of putting more words out there, since somebody somewhere will be offended and think I should have said something different or said nothing at all. All I can do is ask anyone who happens to be reading to take this blog post at face value; to not read between the lines of what I did or didn’t say, or isolate one sentence and pounce on it. I write this only in the hope that it might be helpful to someone, so feel free to take or leave it.

Here goes.

We live in a broken world that is full of injustice: systemic racisim, sex trafficking, refugees displaced by political fighting, corruption resulting in abuse in orphanages, and that’s not even scratching the surface. It’s real. It’s tragic. It results in the unimaginable suffering of people made in the image of God. It’s an affront to all that God says is good. But here’s the thing- we simply don’t have the capacity to feel the weight of all injustice everywhere all the time. God didn’t make us that way. “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.... A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 NLT) God doesn’t have us all on the same timeline.

Right now, we have been made uniquely aware of one specific area of injustice, and given the opportunity to respond in some way. We should all be willing to see injustice for what it is, to have the humility to listen well, to have our perspectives challenged and to repent as we see where our actions and attitudes have been wrong. We should be bothered, to say the very least. However, we are not all called to respond in the exact same way. Right now, God is calling some to step up and act to combat this injustic in specific ways. For others, their call to action may lie elsewhere. Some might be in a season of life in which they’re just trying to keep their head above the water and aren’t able to do much else. Some of us wear our heart on our sleeve, while others feel deeply but don’t express it as well. Ultimately, our aim shouldn’t be to satisfy people in the way we respond. That would be impossible anyway, given the vast array of often conflicting opinions on that point. We are responsible to seek God and ask Him for guidance in what He would have us do. We are called to reflect Christ and to be His hands and feet, but that won’t look exactly the same for each person.

For those who are genuinely grieved by what is happening, but are wrestling with how you ought to be responding, let me encourage you to look to God, rather than the myriad of voices on social media, as your Guide. Perfect love and perfect justice are found in Him. He has good works specifically prepared for each of us (Ephesians 2:10). Come to Him, asking, “What do you want me to do?” Listen and learn, seek the wisdom of those He has placed in your life, obey as He leads, and then rest in Him. Someone out there will still likely feel you should be doing something else, but He is the one we are called to please.

For those who are feeling deeply and passionately moved, by all means, speak out, take action, and challenge those around you to see beyond their own perspective. But resist the urge to assume you know how another individual ought to be responding, or to condemn them for not exhibiting the same level of passion you feel. However just our cause, however right our passion, at the end of the day, we aren’t God. Only He knows the heart of another, and only He knows His intention for each of His followers at any given time. He refers to His people as a Body for a reason- we don’t all have the same role to play.

For all of us who are believers, may whatever we do and say be with the ultimate aim of seeing those who are made in the image of God be brought from spiritual darkness to the life that is found only in Christ. Let our deepest prayer be, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Connecticut Shooting - A Different Perspective

Yesterday morning the unthinkable happened- a man entered an elementary school and opened fire, killing 6 adults and 20 children between the ages of 5 and 10. The reality of what happened is so horrifying that it's difficult to grasp. A shooting in any sort of setting is tragic, but the fact that this crime was committed against children makes it even more appalling. Children are vulnerable, and to protect and defend them is almost instinctive. My heart breaks for those families.

As heartbreaking as that is, the sad reality is that somewhere over 3000 children are killed daily, almost unnoticed, in America alone. Yesterday, while the gunman was opening fire, I was standing outside of an abortion clinic, praying quietly. I watched women go by, as I do every week, some laughing with a friend, some cold and indifferent, some appearing nervous. Everywhere around life goes on as usual. People arrive for work at various offices surrounding the clinic. Some acknowledge my smile and wave back, some don't. Children wait for the school bus. Across the street people stop for coffee at Starbucks or McDonalds. But inside that clean, friendly looking building with the lovely tree in front, children are being killed- killed in a "safe, legal procedure."

God's heart is breaking. Why don't we see? Are we so used to hearing about it that we've grown desensitized? Are we too self-centered to care? Are there more pressing matters at hand? These precious lives being knit together by the One who died to give us life are being literally torn to pieces in the place where they should be safest. How can we, as His people, turn the other way? What ought our response to be? That is a question for each of us to prayerfully ask God. Cry out to Him and let Him break your heart. It will look different for each of us, but may we as the church be blind no longer.

Dear Lord, give us eyes to see, a heart to care, and courage and your strength to respond.

Of Axe Heads, Birthdays, and Elections

About a week ago, I was reading in 2 Kings 6, and was reminded of a wonderful sermon Eric Ludy gave on that passage while I was at Ellerslie. It was called "The Floating Axe Head", and I highly recommend listening to it. In the first part of 2 Kings 6, a man is chopping wood with a borrowed axe head, which flew off the handle and fell into a lake. Elisha makes the axe head float. The next verses contain a more well known story- Elisha and his servant are surrounded by a Syrian army seeking their destruction, and the servant is terrified. Elisha says, "Don't be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them", and then asks God to open his servant's eyes. The young man looks, and sees a heavenly army surrounding them. It's been nearly a year since I heard it, but I remember Eric making the point that God cares intimately about the small details of our lives, and works in them to build our faith and prepare us for even greater times of need.

Today was the culmination of over a month of planning a surprise birthday party for my brother Zach. We told him that we were making a video for a friends birthday after church, but while he was talking, my brother and another friend came up behind him in ski masks, put a pillow case over his head, tied his hands behind his back, put him in a car and drove him to the park where a big group of friends waited to yell "SURPRISE!" Our plan had so many variables, and I was nervous! I had been praying so hard over every detail, and was blessed to see God answer so many specific prayers. The timing went beautifully, Zach had no idea, God gave me and the other conspirators wisdom to deal with numerous challenges that arose, the party was so special, it didn't rain, we got a picnic shelter, and the list goes on. To say that I am so incredibly thankful is a massive understatement!

On Tuesday, the day after tomorrow, we will know the outcome of the elections which have been looming in our future for so long. I, as do so many others, have strong, prayed over convictions concerning my vote. It is my prayer that we will have men in office who's actions are most in alignment with the truth of God's Word, and it is a temptation to fear and be anxious when I imagine the way things may go.

The God who cares about the details of a birthday party is the same God who is in control of the nations. I trusted Him for the small things, but is He any less in control now? I saw Him work in this, and I've seen His faithfulness and ability so many times in my own life. When (in the natural sense) the course of our nation hangs in the balance, will I tremble and fear? Or, by God's grace, will I trust and rest in Him, knowing that He is in control? Hallelujah, we serve a God who is mighty beyond comprehension, and working His perfect purpose in the ridiculously insignificant and in the global. Pray. Vote. Pray harder. But oh, may we be a people who trust and obey our true King! May I be a sheep who gladly follows her Shepherd through hills and valleys!