These days, the conversations on social media often reflect the collision of political and religious values. Writers on all sides, with much more notable names than mine, are predicting the imminent apocalyptic end of life as we have known it. Some cheer this end as an indication of the triumph of human enlightenment and justice. Others see today’s trends as the accelerating degradation of human kind. One, both, or neither may be true.
I’m not saying that these issues are not important. I’m also not saying that I don’t have a personal view on the issues of the day. What I am saying is that there is another perspective on these issues that I have not seen in the dialog.
I appreciate that others are arguing in the public arena for values that I hold. But my values are not decided by the latest poll, by the popular majority, or even by the Supreme Court. When someone with contradictory values comes knocking at my door, I’m not likely to make the news. But I do have to make choices about how I relate to people who think and act differently than I do. All of us have to make these decisions, and our choices are weighed in the changing balance of civil and criminal law.
I also believe that all of us, including me, fall short of God’s unchanging standards. All. Fall. Short.
I recognize that not everyone believes in God or standards that supersede our own. But since I do, I see others through this lens. The standard I rely on says that all my righteous acts are like filthy rags. Filthy. Rags.
If I ignore my own filthy rags, it is easier for me to be offended and critical of the filthy rags of others. I suspect that others have the same experience as they look at me.
But when I look at the filthy rags of others through the lens of my own filthy rags, all I see is . . . filthy rags. I will admit that I am much more comfortable with my own filthy rags than with the filthy rags of others. But that doesn’t make my filthy rags clean in God’s eyes. Comparing rag filth is a popular sport but ultimately pointless.
All. Fall. Short.
According to the standard I rely on, my righteousness and yours are completely contingent on God’s grace and forgiveness. The good news for all of us is that God sent His son, Jesus, to pay our immeasurable debt of sin.
It’s unfortunate that bad news, bad behavior, and bad attitudes get better media coverage than good news.
