A rare political post

If anyone doubted that we live in a fallen world, the news from the past few days, should be enough to convince them otherwise. We like to live in our little bubbles where good things happen, where people are nice, and everything works out. This bubble is easier to maintain if you are a certain demographic, for many people both in our country and across the world, this bubble doesn't exist. What saddens me is when people assume that because their bubble is intact, that other people must be able to live in a bubble, or if their bubble popped, it must somehow be their fault. Is it that frightening to admit that we live in an evil world? Is it that frightening to admit that we may not know everything about another person's existence? Is it that frightening to admit that some people in this world get a raw deal, through no fault of their own?

It must be, because why else would people even try to make the events of the past weekend OK? Anyone who says that another human being is less than valuable because of the color of their skin is wrong. And we need to be able to say out loud, often, that it is wrong. If we do not point out evil when we see it, we are just as culpable. And if you have evil pointed out to you, and you refuse to acknowledge it, you have thrown your lot in with the other side.

I don't post about politics very often here. I don't enjoy politics. I find it stressful. I am conflict avoidant. But sometimes I find the need to make what I believe clear, because I never want someone else to assume I believe in something else merely from my silence.

Every single human being is created in the image of our Creator God. Thus every single human being is valuable. Every single human being is also infected with sin from this fallen world, and non if us is perfect. In God's eyes, sin is sin, and we don't get to hold one sin up as more heinous than another. All of us fall short of God's glory. We all matter. None is better than another. Jesus tells us to love everyone, as much as we love ourselves, even if we don't agree with them or like them or if they have done bad things to us. There is not much leeway there. We are to love other people. Period.

If you love someone, you take their concerns seriously. You do not belittle their experience. You listen. You have humility for your own positions, because you are also a sinful creation.

Political parties will not save us. Even the ones we agree with.
Political parties will not doom us to oblivion. Even the ones we disagree with.
Only God can do this, and He is in charge. Why do Christians so often seem to forget this? We know how the story ends, a political figure cannot rewrite it.

And while I believe that all lives are valuable, sometimes you have to be explicit. Yes, black lives do matter. If you are going to quibble with this, you are no better than my young children who squabble. If I tell a child I really like his drawing, I will have many other children running up to me, shoving pictures in my face, and making sure that I like their pictures, too. Just because I told one child I liked his drawing does not in any way take away how much I like my other children's drawings as well. But for him, that child with the first drawing, it is important for me to say I like his work. Just because we say one thing about something, does not mean that other things are equally true, but something that one thing needs to be said. Can we be secure enough in our Father's love that we can say that people or color really do matter? Because whether you want to acknowledge it or not, society is so often saying something different. We need to love our brothers and sisters who do not look like us. To stand up for them in the face of oppression and violence and hatred. We need to love them as much as we love ourselves and our comfort.

If you truly love and follow Jesus, you cannot stand aside and let evil pass. You must stand up to it and call it what it is. Hatred is evil.