The photographer paused in his tour of his stunning photographs he had recently taken in the Middle East. One by one I was amazed at the story they told, one after another, singular and profound. One struck me with awe. A picture of two men walking arm in arm like a band of brothers obviously strengthened by their enjoined purpose, trekking in unity. The photo captured in that one moment a slice of time with high import. At first blush, you might not think this was anything odd. Two people walking out into the street with laughter on their faces, joy bubbling from their soul. But these were not just any two people: one was an Arab, one was a Jew. In today's world to say that is a paradox would be a huge understatement. Rival enemies. Centuries of inbred hatreds at odds with the one common element that could stop fear and violence cold and then with utter contempt cast it into outer darkness. Something that cannot be fully punctuated by articulate speech, but exemplified in the life of one simply poured into another by the rich, sweet nectar of divine fruit of the Spirit of God.
Love.
I thought to myself, wow, there it is. Loving one another. Who would have thought? Two Middle Eastern friends who individually chose to walk in righteousness refusing to look the other way or shun each other when opposing religious views and conflicts blocked their way. They held out a hand of genuine respect and love in friendship refusing to give evil even one scintilla of a foothold. That one friendship embodied an erasure of centuries of bigotry and violence, all held fast in a fragile envelope of righteous love.
Inside I was ecstatic that an Arab and a Jew had decided to take the ultimate life challenge. To love one another no matter what odds they faced. But as the evening progressed I was faced with a firmly-held bigotry of my own and, when confronted with it, I was shocked. I listened as a friend discussed his personal religious beliefs that ran contrary to my own. I have always had the highest regard for this person and how he challenged me to be rise strong in the Lord. His passion for the Lord was undeniable. His fervor to serve God in ways that I knew I had yet to express was infectious. I hadn't thought I had a religious spirit that rose stiffly in stone-cold arrogant pride, but the Lord graciously exposed it to me -- not to condemn, but that I might repent before Him. This friend was explaining how he wore "holy garments" (something I didn't know at the time) and that he felt they were no different than a Jewish man wearing a kippah. Yet, here I was realizing that the way he served the Lord in the denomination of his own choice -- a matter of the heart -- was causing me to lock myself in a prison of my own making. I had swathed his whole denomination with a battering ram of locked prejudice. I still disagree with their tenets, but it made me realize that "throwing out the baby with the bath water" is not God's choice at all. He has a timing for every person. Each life is different, each holds a diversity of expectations that the Lord has designed for each one. Singular in beauty and unique. His ways are not our own and every day is a startling and profound revelation to punctuate that point.
Division runs rampant throughout the globe -- no matter if Jewish, Christian, secular or pagan. There are sections that decry they are the favored group or they have the market on God's voice or revelation. God does not look at us as separate groups but only as those who love and serve Him and those that don't. But even those that don't, who chose to walk another path, He staunchly and adamantly refuses to leave His place where He was left standing. He remains in His place waiting for that beauty to expand that only He has right to embrace: the openness of a man's heart. Too often we rush in to try to baptize one another with our beliefs believing that if they live "our way" then they are safe. Actually, we may block, divert or even tragically abort what God had in mind for that person in our insistence that others walk in our path. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, "Jesus himself did not try to convert the two thieves on the cross; he waited until one of them turned to him."
Our hearts are off limits to each other. We are not allowed to trifle them, stifle them, dominate or challenge with guilt like a sword trying to coerce upon another any cherished dogmatic belief. Hearts are a precious commodity and the Lord does not take kindly to abuse or bruising of the heart of one another. He told us the commandments are summed up in this: love of and to God and love of and to one another. Not feigned or played in pantomime. It simply is the way He loves us and that is how we are to treat one another.
In the parchment of His love He explains this extravagant love. "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love." Prophets, Bible scholars, rabbis, and pundits all point to an impending financial crisis that will cripple the world. Countries crippled by debt are crumbling into a financial abyss while huge crowds incited by evil hatred and violence gripped in a frenzy the likes of which the world has never seen continue to hold sway in a global court of high treason. These are times. Perilous times. We are not to retreat. We are to hold fast. People are betraying one another, headstrong as granite, haughty and proud, yelling demands like brandished swords slashing others with arrogant and brutal words. People are yearning for what the Lord demands of us. Love.
Let me make a bold statement. I am a American, but I am not defined by my government. I am defined by the Lord I love and serve. I passionately love the Lord, but I am not to be segregated by others if my conviction does not match another person's closely-held belief. Our hearts belong to the Lord and not ourselves. We are to stand together with the utmost respect and unwavering integrity with that which the Lord provides: love unsheathed as a weapon of righteousness. Its cutting edge is sharp. It casts out fear and bathes the soul in soothing oil from the robes of God. And then with a softened hand of grace extended says, I will stand with you. I will love you. I will cherish you.
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| Standing halfway is not to stand at all. |
It cannot happen this time. We cannot stick our heads in our denominational (or non-denominational or church group) and deny what is going on any longer. These are end times. And end times demand extraordinary stances of truth and courage. We are demanded to love. Cross our theological borders and stand firmly for righteousness. Mix our religious beliefs? Never. But we can hold hands of love standing together against evil. Romans 14 puts it this way: "Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord, and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord He does not observe it ... none of us lives to himself and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's."
We cannot let evil run roughshod over our lives, our fortunes or our sacred honor. Not this time. Not this year, not next year, nor the year after that. We will let our voices be heard in loud shouts of love. We will not have another holocaust. We will not have ovens at the ready for human bodies for whom God gave His only son. We are told to walk in shoes of peace.
Recently I read again Corrie TenBoom's story, The Hiding Place. Corrie's sister Betsie always prayed for everyone, especially the tyrant guards. Her heart was the heart of God who aches and yearns for all to come to know Him. It was her one statement that has resonated with millions that still speaks today, "There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still." Even in the stench of the pit of hell she was able to evoke love to its full extent. Standards of evil must be rooted out and eradicated by those who have the temerity when having done all to stand have stood for the King.
Today I listened once again to the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah. It never fails to bring tears to my eyes. Every time the refrain is heard my spirit soars as it reaches towards the Creator who made me, the one Who holds my heart in His hand. It says to me we will worship our precious King. We will serve Him at all costs. We will love our fellow man no matter where and who.
"Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul would soon have settled in silence. If I say, 'My foot slips,' Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up. In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul. Shall the throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law, have fellowship with You? They gather together against the life of the righteous and condemn innocent blood. But the Lord has been my defense and my God the rock of my refuge. He has brought on them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; the Lord our God shall cut them off." (Psa. 94:16-23)
