Psalm 82:3 “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.”
This will be the most controversial writing that
I have put forth so far. All previous writings when read by the few seemed to
relate to them in ways that showed a connection between me and what I wrote
about and our faith.
This one may not.
I believe that Psalm 82:3 tells us to love
prisoners and has caused me to become anti-capital punishment. I know that
theologically capital punishment can be justified, but because of my love of
people that I have gained through the love that Jesus has for us, I cannot
think of anything worse than stealing away an opportunity for someone to be
saved.
I am 100% in support of punishment for a crime,
but I believe that by executing someone, we have taken away their chance to be
saved. I know they have probably heard The Gospel before, but how many times
did it take for you to be saved? For me, it was quite a few times. I am glad I
was able to be alive to hear it enough times to accept it.
I believe that Psalm 82:3 tells us to love those
who have had abortions. I know we know that, but we have become so
anti-abortion that I feel we have forgotten about the victims who felt that
this was their only option. That Satan had tricked them into this situation.
Yes, the babies are victims, but so are the mothers.
Thankfully, with the work of the church, total
abortions are going down in our country, but why is it when a woman and/or male
counterpart find themselves in this unfortunate situation that they do not feel
they can turn to the church for guidance and help. Or worse yet…they can’t turn
to friends or family that will offer alternatives?
I believe that Psalm 82:3 tells us to help
everyone. From the poor in our hometowns, to the poor in Nairobi and other
slums around the globe, to opioid addicts, to murderers, molesters, Muslims, atheists,
and believers who have fallen from their path.
I believe that Jesus calls us to minister to
refugees, to illegal immigrants, and to all races and not just to those who
look just…. like….us.
Psalm
82:3 is what causes many of my fellow believers to believe that I am some left
wing lunatic who doesn’t understand the world.
I am 48
years old. I came to Christ at 32 and deeply grew in my faith the last seven
years.
I have
been to the worst slums on Earth and some of the worst places in this country.
I have
read the Bible and many books about our faith and Jesus.
I know
that I may not understand the world, but I know that our thinking should be
transformed as Believers so that the world does not understand us.
I know I
am a hypocrite.
I know I
don’t do enough.
I know I
miss church too often.
But I am
hoping as I progress that my base belief in my faith as a follower of The
Nazarene is that I am either growing or understanding I need to continue to
grow.
Because
if I am the same today as I am in five, ten, twenty years then I have not gotten
“it” and what this Christianity thing is supposed to be about.
And my
greatest fear is that I will become a comfortable, lukewarm, finger pointing,
hypocrite who quotes scripture on social media and the next post am completely
unaware of pain I am causing others by my lack of awareness.
