![]() What follows is a rather lengthy look at what the Bible says faces and why I am eager to fight to show my face to others. Our current division about masks is turning out to be a successful satanic attack on humanity to deny what makes us human and to keep the church from displaying the love of Christ written on our faces. The authority to define how to love our neighbor is God’s, which he has revealed to us in his word.Īnd one of those things his word reveals to us is how important to his redemptive work seeing faces is. Yes, some authority does belong to the government, and some does not, but the authority to define those boundaries belongs to God. We need a multitude of perspectives to properly express the complex beauty of God in this world and to balance our singular emphases (we always tend to think our perspective is the most important, the most urgent). It is diving into his word to listen to him explain how we ought to love our neighbor. It is seeking the face of Jesus trying to honor him in all these things. There are dozens of commands to do things for one another that require close proximity.įaithfulness in our current time doesn’t look like a blanket statement of right or wrong. Christians are supposed to be a people who bear one another’s physical burdens (Galatians 6:2). We are expected to march our way to the temple regularly to meet with God (Psalm 96) and not forsake the assembling of the saints (Hebrews 10:25). We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:39). 1:26–28).īut we also know Scripture emphasizes the importance of many other things. Scientific endeavors are a good part of creation and our image-bearing dominion (Gen. We know we must submit to government (Romans 13:1–7 1 Peter 2:13–17). There are spiritual forces at work in all of this.Īnd Christians are righty confused knowing all that we are commanded to be in the midst of it. Religion isn’t just the experience of the church. News and social media are full of prophets proclaiming doom and gloom upon those who don’t fall in line. The medical community currently acts as the priesthood, telling us who is clean and unclean, laying out what we have to do to enter society. The government acts as king, giving orders from on high expecting conformity and allegiance. It’s not just the church that is religious, but so is the world. And the more I see the world simply trying to fill a spiritual void by religiously appealing to secular wisdom. The more I am in Scripture, the more I see everything through a spiritual lens. We really don’t know what is best, but everyone is making proclamations of absolute certainty. That’s the trouble I’ve had throughout this pandemic. “What?!” You might think, “How can you say that? Right now it is more loving to put a mask on to love your neighbor.” ![]() My answer: Because I want to love my neighbor. Why does it have to be so difficult? The simplest option to protect one another in the midst of a pandemic, it seems, would be to just put a mask on. ![]() ![]() Who knew that a little piece of cloth on your face could cause so much consternation? “Why not just put a mask on, it’s not that difficult?” Or contrarily, “A little piece of cloth is not going to save you from death.” It has become so politicized that you can probably tell a person’s political preferences by their masking arguments. ![]() Everyone takes a side and the battle continues every day. With baseball on hold most of the summer, fighting about masks has now become America’s pastime. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |