Saturday, January 24, 2009

a powerful thought

Recently over at RBC Ministries, Mart DeHaan shared with us his thoughts and conviction in what we as God's people in Jesus should do during these times. This post and this post from his excellent blog are both helpful to us in sorting through difficult issues today. Mart doesn't pretend to have it all down, and these are over matters in which we Christians are sharply divided on, politically. I'm thinking here of Christians who agree for example, that abortion is the taking of human life, but are not in agreement on how to address the issue.

I quote from the first post I link above:

Maybe we need to return to the practice of the early church. In a society where abortion and infanticide were common, followers of Christ developed a reputation for not aborting their own children, and even for saving from the garbage other people’s children who were left to die.

I'm inclined to agree with Mart. What better good can we do for our country and for the world than simply living out a lifestyle that is in marked contrast to the "culture of death" surrounding us, to a culture sadly warped and crooked. In Jesus we need to be those who have and are experiencing God's salvation from this to a different way of life. They need to see a marked difference in our lives. This will make our words matter far more. And this will help us fulfill our true calling and vocation in this world as the salt and light in Jesus which we are.

I agree with Mart that we need Christians on both sides of the aisle in politics here in the U.S. And I believe Christians in both major parties as well as in other places. So I'm not speaking of disengagement from the political process. Not at all. But I'm referring to what we should be noted for. In how we live and what we do during these times.

What would you like to add on this?

2 comments:

Kurt Willems said...

Ted, this was a great post. I really like what you point out about being known over against a culture of death. Several years ago, Rob Bell taught a series through the book of Ephesians. There was one message as I recall where he discussed how the early chruch had a reputation for going to a hillside where deformed and unwanted babys were left to either die or be abducted by slave owners. Christians were known for what they valued, rather than seen as disagreeing for the sake of being disagreeable. I think that in our context, we need to do all we can to embody a focus on the value of life. As i have heard it said, the church should be living in such a way that we are known as the one organization that values all of life: "from the womb to the tomb." When this starts to happen in a loving and peaceful way, the rest of our culture will begin to take notice!

Ted M. Gossard said...

Kurt,
Yes, those words were powerful to me when first seeing them on Mart's blog. And then hearing them again from Mart this past week.

I think I've heard them before, or maybe in a bit different way, but they came home to me this time around.

But I agree, it's about the womb to the tomb. A good way of putting it.