A Christian View 2022 - #17
Is there room in the public square for a Christian world view; or, have the lines between the secular and the spiritual become so blurred that there is no substantive difference?
Does the Christian view matter? Does the Jesus’ message and model even make it to the platform of today’s ideas?
Has it all been reduced to “Christian-ese” - just an archaic assessment of current events that is out-of-touch, out-of-sync and out-of- time?
It’s not a contradiction with current affairs to have a point of view that sees hope in a world of hostilities, to see God at work in a world that denies or devalues His existence, His expression of care, and His extraordinary goodness and grace.
Quite the opposite, the Christian is uniquely qualified to speak to the matters that matter the most.
The Christian View of 2022 is still calling us to Significance, Stewardship and Surrender.
Significance of our Person
The secular dehumanizes the human family into a nameless, aimless sameness. The language of a woke, politically correct culture strips the individual of identity where there is No sacred genesis, No separate gender, No spiritual agenda.
Our significance is not grounded in government. The truth is transcendent.
It rises above religious rhetoric, political posturing or shifting social standards. Our significance comes from God who created us in His image. Governments might be atheistic or agnostic, politics depend on the direction of the prevailing winds and social standards can be shaped by either nobility or narcissism!
God is immutable- He does not change nor mutate His morality nor message to accommodate or appease our sensibilities, sinfulness or self-gratifying need and greed.
God has settled the debate in the words of Genesis 1:27 NLT
So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Stewardship of our planet
Measured by our Maker’s mandate we have miserably missed the mark. The Indigenous culture has adopted the sacredness of the world around us as given to us to manage by the God above us.
We are NOT the possessors of the planet - we are the care-takers of His Creation.
No, we do not worship the creation; nor, should we poison the waters, plunder the forests and pollute the air.
Surrender of our Preferences
Without God, we become arrogant in ourselves, aggressive toward others and accountable to nothing and nobody. (Vladimir Putin - case in point)
God calls us to surrender. Not as a Tyrant demands of those He has conquered, not as a Pharaoh with bondage, beatings and bricks.
Surrender is the restoration of our dignity, destiny and design. Surrender is an invitation to embrace the original intent, the genesis journey…. Created in His Image, living for His glory and becoming all He has purposed and planned for us to realize.
I know the Christian view has been distorted, diluted; and, by some, deserted.
We’ve let the public square go unchecked and unchallenged by religious rhetoric that needs the pastoral to balance the prophetic.
God does have something to say to our world! It is a message of sacrificial love, spiritual leadership and selfless living… a message that is spoken in respect, shared through relationship, set in righteousness and social responsibility.
These are the posts and pillars of Our Father’s World.
Randy B. Leavitt
Pastor