BLUE LIVES MATTER..............
ALL LIVES MATTER................
How would you finish each of these phrases? Which one catches your attention...gets your support...raises your ire? Unless you've taken up residence under a rock or been on a complete media fast for the last 2 weeks, you've probably already made a Facebook post about one or more of these. Can I give an abbreviated rundown?
7/05 - Baton Rouge, LA - Alton Sterling (White/Blue on Black)
7/08 - Falcon Heights, MN - Philando Castille (White/Blue on Black)
7/07 - Dallas, TX - Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael Smith, Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarripa (Black on White/Blue)
7/17 - Baton Rouge, LA - Montrell Jackson, Brad Garafola, Matthew Gerald (Black on Black/Blue)
Of course, I'm just hitting the high (or low) points, all of which were, at the least, racially charged, whether specifically racially motivated or not.
The blowback from the following media crapstorm has ranged from Gun Control, to Systematic Racism, to Civilian Compliance, to Media Drama-Crafting, and most of these commentaries have had grains of truth. As tragedies pile up, so do the exposed problems, therefore, I ask, "What is the problem?".
We human beings (especially Americans) have a sin problem. We do not love enough. Now I know what you are thinking; you're thinking that I just wrote the most obvious statement you've read on Facebook today. However, let me be clear and cut more deeply into our problem.
We love God too little, therefore, we love people too much. In turn, we love people too much, therefore, we do not love people enough.
Americans love their idols. Our idols wear many masks. They look like paltry little things like the Red Sox, or the Crimson Tide. They look like passing things, like our pecs, or our tans. They look like pseudo-essential things, like our careers, or our homes. I believe we can all agree that these are not the most important things.
It becomes tricky, though, when our idols look like things that are incredibly important, like black lives, and blue lives, and all lives.
People are the most important things in creation. They are the image-bearers of God. They are the second half of "the whole of the law" as Jesus put it in Matthew 22:37-40. In fact, there is no greater thing in the created universe that we should love above people, for God has called us to do so. In light of this, I say it again. We love people too much.
Our real problem lies in the fact that, too often, we love people more than we love God. Our greatest love should not abide in the universe, but beyond it. Jesus rightly demands that we, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment." When people care more about other people's welfare, other people's rights, other people's safety, and other people's agendas than they care about God, they inherently lose the ability to love those same people rightly.
C.S. Lewis puts it much better than I can. He writes of his wife, saying:
"To love you as I should, I must worship God as Creator. When I have learnt to love God better
than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. In so far as I learn
to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving towards
the state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed, but increased."
God not only must be, but IS first in all things. Colossians 1:17, speaking of Jesus, says this.
"And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."
God has been and always will be of first importance. He was first before all creation (Colossians 1:17). He is first to love (1 John 4:19). He must be first to receive love (Matthew 22:37). Also, He is is first to receive offense (Psalm 51:4).
What type of message does it send when David (a man after God's own heart) rapes Bathsheba, conspires to murder her husband Uriah, covers it up, then confesses before God that his sin was against God and God alone? Were people not offended as well? Of course they were, but the truth of all sin against people is that it is first and primarily an offense to the person of God Himself.
The cynical police officer might say, "Try not breaking the law". The angry BLM protester might say, "White people need to pay for their past wrongs". The white racist might say, "Black people need to get out of my community". I hear every potential solution from an all-out race war to more socially conscious legislation, but rarely have I heard this truth.
Spiritual problems can only be fixed with spiritual solutions.
I know it's easier said than done, and I know this blog does not say it all, but I'm here to say this.
Jesus Christ is the solution. He's the solution to centuries of generational sin. He's the solution to systematic racism of all kinds and throughout all cultures. He's the solution to abuses of power. He's the solution to anger based upon unfair treatment. He's the solution to this world of sin.
O God, that this country may love You first, and that we might wage our war against sin, and not against skin. May we, by Your power, get first things right, so that all our second things may be, in turn, loved rightly. Cause us to love our brothers and sisters of every color, not from the puny and broken cisterns of the power of our own love, but from all the length and width, and height and depth of Your love...and may we all say first and foremost....#Hislifematters
