Coffee With The Lord

What you are about to read is not a political statement … It is a personal position…

I grieve that the term “compassionate conservative” has been maligned unjustly (it is a good term)! I must tell you, more than being a “fiscal conservative” or a “political conservative” I am a “social conservative.” I believe the Bible teaches it! I read this passage today during my time of “coffee with the Lord” and embrace wholeheartedly what it teaches…

“God has taken His place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods He holds judgment: ‘How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.'” (Psalm 82:1-4 ESV)

I jotted this personal message in the margin of my Bible by those verses today: Where there is genuine need, I want to be generous and do my best to meet it! Where there is real injustice, I want to defend those wronged and do what I can to advocate justice. Why? Because the Bible teaches it, God expects it, my relationship with Him demands it, and the heart within me that He transformed desires it!

My Bible reading today included Mark 15:16-20 – the account of the abuse of Jesus in the Praetorium (i.e. Pilates palace or the governor’s headquarters). Whenever I read accounts like this in the Bible I am painfully aware of the gross miscarriage of justice and inhuman treatment Jesus suffered. He was guilty of NOTHING except love, compassion and truth)! I am aware I am judging by legal standards in civilized cultures today, but no humane person with an objective sense of justice would treat another person as Jesus was treated! Political power without any sense of restraint, militarism without accountability, distorted nationalism, depraved religious zeal, and the unrestrained evil of the human soul all piled together and mixed in a bucket of hatred and human depravity!

Here’s the snapshot of evil I read today (read it slowly and ponder the words)…

“The soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. They clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, and they put it on him. Then they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And then they led him out to crucify him.” (Mark 15:16–20 ESV)

Imagine it – the sinless Son of God undergoing that treatment! And what did He say in response the whole inhuman, unjust scenario… “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing!” (Luke 22:34)! The sin of those who abused and crucified Him… my sin… your sin… the sin of the whole world – He died for our sin! He – the One who has every right to accuse and condemn us – offers us forgiveness and reconciliation! In the words of the old gospel song… “Oh what a Savior!”

There are a lot of things I’m still working on as a Christian (I’m reminded of a lot of them during my daily times of “coffee with the Lord). One of them is my impatience and proclivity to “pop off” in anger when frustrated or provoked (I have battled this one since a child). I’m still working on it! I’ve got to say, my default tendency is NOT meekness and gentleness. (I don’t know how many letters I’ve written in haste and torn up, or how many e-mails or Facebook posts I’ve written, paused, prayed and never sent. (Incidentally, I recommend a “pause and pray” approach before sending e-mails or posting opinions on social media )…

I read a passage this morning that I identified with (and I think some of my Facebook friends will as well)… 2 Corinthians 10:1-6. Paul had been criticized and accused unfairly… Anyone who has read much of Paul’s story in the Bible knows he was not naturally “meek and mild” – his natural tendency was a lot like mine (in fact the book of Acts tells the story of his pre-Christian zealous hatred and violence against Christians… as well as his harsh treatment against John Mark for what Paul felt was his failure under pressure).

In this passage it seems the Corinthian congregation has criticized Paul for inconsistency … “talking tough” in his letters but being a bit “timid” in person. Paul felt the criticism was unfair, given their behavior and sin. I can imagine everything within him wanted to “just tell them off!”

Instead Paul says this…

“I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away! … For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” A few verses later he declared that any “authority” he had was “for building them up rather than tearing them down.” (from 2 Corinthians 10:1–11 ESV)

This is a lesson I want to learn… a spiritual skill I want to master… doing a better job of “self-management” through the power of the Holy Spirit working in my life! I want to be able to demonstrate that my default tendency is under control and that there is another, preferred way as a Christian, to deal with things… Spiritual weapons – the “meekness and gentleness of Christ.” It doesn’t mean we don’t deal with things… we just deal with them differently. I’m working on it…