We began 2026 with the taking of the Venezuelan President in an apparent invasion of that country by our own. Happy New Year. The justification for these actions seems pretty weak. Maybe the reason is just to show we can. An appearance of strength and power. We’ve been here before, interfering in other countries’ sovereignty. Vietnam comes to mind. That didn’t work out so well. Neither did the more recent involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under the guise of helping, we’ve ended up doing more harm than good and leaving a mess in our wake when we sail away. And here we are again.
This conflict is supposedly over drugs, fentanyl in
particular. Yet some dispute that the fentanyl that pours into our country even
comes from Venezuela. Who knows? What are we to think? This just adds another
layer to our current administration’s bullying behavior. Bullies never make me
think strength. The bullies I have known and experienced had been bullied
themselves and rather than confronting and stopping the behavior, went on to
perpetuate it on someone else. Bullies are normally weak, not strong. They
bully to look something they are not.
Most recently our country has been bullying a lot of weaker
people: immigrants, women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people of color,
apparently anyone who isn’t in the bully's club. It all feels like a middle school
playground run amok, including the rhetoric to defend the behavior.
All the while too many American Christians have been staying
on the bandwagon, supporting the bullies like the want-to-be followers on the
playground. By their actions or support, or lack of any voice of disproval,
they appear to be in one voice with the bullies. The bullies helped them take
down some bad things and so now they support the bullies no matter how indefensible their behavior.
Unfortunately for them, there is no biblical footing for
their support. Christ never said we are to love some people. He said we were to
love all. He never said we are to bully or take revenge. He says vengeance is
His to take, not ours. Our job is not to police the unbelieving world nor turn
our back on it. We are told to go into the world and represent Jesus. We are to
be His hands and feet to spread the good news that our sins have been forgiven,
we are loved by God and can experience eternal life. That Good News was to go
out to everyone, not just the people we deem worthy.
And how do we gain the right to share the Good News with
people we obviously hate, or wish to see removed from our country? How do we
gain the right to speak of Jesus Christ to people we feel don’t deserve our
charity? Well, as representatives of Jesus Christ, we are to behave like Him.
That means we are to rely on God for the power to behave in ways that do not
come naturally. It isn’t natural to love our neighbors, let alone our enemies.
But God promises to give us the ability to do so. In following Jesus’ example
we need to look at what He did. He ran with those outcast by the political and
religious leaders. He talked to women. He touched and healed lepers. He ate
meals with those deemed unworthy sinners. He drew huge crowds and didn’t
discriminate over sex, color, economic status or citizenship. He fed them all.
On the other hand, too many American Christians act like only
a certain group is worthy to join their club. For many if you are not white,
straight, even male you don’t really belong. That is not following Jesus’
example in any shape or form. There is nothing in Jesus’ words that support
that behavior.
It’s more than time for Christians to separate themselves
from the bullies, and stand up to truth and mercy. It’s time for the Church to condemn
behavior that doesn’t lift up God and support justice, kindness and grace.
In Psalms 82, God speaks, “how long will you defend the
unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the weak and the fatherless,
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver
them from the hand of the wicked.”
I believe He is still asking this of us today.
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