It’s not debate we need, it’s Jesus
FacebookTwitterGoogle+DiggPinterestBloggerFrom controversies over masks to Black Lives Matter; from disputes over race, reparations, and religion to statues defaced and cops in the cross hairs, these are perilous and upsetting times. There is more than just hatred in the air. There is fear.
Scrolling through my newsfeed is much like walking over a bed of hot nails or being showered with battery acid. It’s abrasive, corrosive, exhausting. It’s intimidating. Everywhere, a tug of war using hot and angry words. Everyone’s making a point, and in the fury and clamor and division, many of my people are missing the point. And the point, very simply, is Jesus.
The truth is that I’m no Ben Shapiro. I’m not good at clever debating, at defending my faith with deep, theological arguments and historical references. I don’t like fighting and controversy (I’ve been hurt deeply by those), and I’m sick of living a complicated life. Simplicity is my hallmark. And so, again, Jesus.
Because I have Jesus, I am filled with Light. Why on earth should I be afraid of the dark? “Don’t go here. Don’t go there. Don’t talk to ‘those’ people, they might pull you in.”
Gracious. Do I have the Light or don’t I? Is that Light greater than the night or is it not? If it’s not, then I SHOULD be cowering in fear, curled up tight in self-defense, avoiding every trace of “the world.” But if it is, then I can go anywhere, do anything, and talk to anyone that He sends me, for it can never be truly dark when I carry within me the Light.
Because I have Jesus, I am filled with confidence. “I am the Way,” Jesus said, and I believe Him. Being yoked together makes my way secure. (Far from being an instrument of captivity, that yoke is the tool by which my burdens are eased, and my steps are ordered and straight. We’re a team.)
Because I have Jesus, I am filled with Love. It is love, you see, that’s the opposite of fear, for perfect love casts every trace of it out. When I am frightened, I am lacking in love, and I cannot love someone I’m fearing. That’s what I’ve learned. God’s love for me first, for it heals my ills, and then Love flows through me to the world.
Instead of debating racism, I simply see friends. I see people for whom Christ has died. And I love them.
Instead of arguing about which lives matter the most, I live this one life that I have, filled with Him. Filled with Life, filled with Light, filled with Love. It is the simplest, most fulfilling, most joy-full kind of life, and I want other people to know it.