So it's been a while since I've done one of these. A lot has happened in the past few months since my last posting. In fact, I got engaged and married since my last post. The wedding was awesome by the way. We took our honeymoon at the end of January. Cruised to the Bahamas, and it was just great. I'm trying to plan another one for tomorrow, but the wife is telling me that we need to build the travel budget back up. She's right, so no argument here.
I'm sitting here on the couch listening to music (another perk to married life is I get to miss the sports that give me heartburn due to keeping music on and the television off). My wife and I listened to a sermon about how emotions are crucial to our lives and how to deal with them. In particular, acknowledging them through the many different Psalms in the Bible. There's like 150, so there's an emotion for everything; Sadness, Gladness, Madness, etc. Point being, God's Word can and should get us through everything.
I guess the emotion I'm feeling lately is frustration. I've been fairly frustrated with a lot of things going on in the world. Over the last couple of years, there has been a growing trend. The trend of anger and hatred. I'm seeing hatred spewed daily. Before you ask if this is another one of my social justice warrior blogs, I'll give you a spoiler: depends on what you consider justice. If you consider treating people the way God told us to in His Word to be considered social justice, guilty as charged. Anyway, this anger and hatred is being spewed from every angle of worldview possible. Some circles think the other circles don't care enough about one thing, while the other circles think the first circle is being over dramatic. Then there's the circle that just buries their head in the sand and pull their heads up once or twice a month to cash a check.
Here's my thought. First, remember the most important commandment God gave us: Love God and love your neighbor, equally, the same, evenly. Here's what that means, at least to me:
1) Talk to your neighbors. Especially the ones with whom you know you'll disagree. No that doesn't mean seek people of a different color, religion, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, etc. Just means engage with people. It means ask them what their lives are like and vice versa. I think that we all, in the end, are seeking the same things.
2) Stop assuming that a disagreement means hatred. It doesn't. It just means that there's disagreement.
3) Speaking of hatred, if you're a blood-bought believer in Christ, the last thing you should be doing is spewing hatred. This shouldn't be difficult, but judging by Twitter, Facebook, and the like, it seems that my Christian brethren need a refresher on "Love thy neighbor." I've seen some pretty horrendous things being said by people I've known almost my whole life to be Christian. It makes me question if you're truly a believer. If this offends you, it's probably conviction. Calling people animals, immediately assuming that a group of people are just trying to ruin your way of life. These things are not what God wants us to do. I've seen way less Christian love from professed believers than ever. When someone is hurting, it's not your job to pile on them. Your job is to lift them up. I believe the Sunday school word for that is edify.
I know this blog isn't going to change people's minds. However I do believe that if enough people read it and do better, it could make life a little easier. I recently got into a very deep Twitter discussion (I know, crazy right?) about some things. I can't remember the subject matter, and in the end, it probably doesn't matter. I do remember that the conversation was civil, educational, and uplifting for everyone. We all thanked each other for the good conversation without insults. I'm not sure if anything changed, but at the very least, we have a better understanding of each other. That's what this life is about. Understanding what people who disagree are seeing. It's about point of view. You don't necessarily have to relinquish your worldview (unless it's hatred towards people, then you should probably consider it), but you can see what the other side is saying.
It's a crazy world out there. Last thing we need is brokenness from the ones who should be most in sync with each other.
I'll try not to wait a year and a half between blogs.
