Grace to the Liars, Thieves, Cheaters, and Murderers, but not to those who I disagree with on Politics.

I have to talk about politics for a minute. How could I not? I mean, I know I surely haven’t heard enough on the news in the last year. So I’m assuming that you are chomping at the bit to hear another perspective.

*Come back and insert a lot of angry rhetoric here later*

Anger. That is the word to describe politics and the US right now. SO much anger. And I admit, I catch myself fluctuating between anger and apathy. I read an article and I get angry, so I switch off and fall into apathy.

I don’t think either is good.

The articles, the tweets, and the comments are ugly. “You Can Be A Christian Or A Liberal, But Not Both” or “You can’t be Christian and against Refugees.”

And I’m left with feeling that there needs to be an all-out attack on finding common ground. The Christian left and the Christian right are so far apart right now. Maybe that distance has always been there, but events of the last year have just highlighted the distance.

What are we to do? What am I to do?

Extend Grace.

But you read the headlines above and it feels like a lot more needs to be done. And since I’m a man of action I came up with a couple things that I’m trying and going to try to do to bridge this gap.

1)    Aim for understanding. There is a lot of talking going on, but not a lot of listening happening. - Why do people feel and think the way they do? - It’s okay to disagree. It’s okay to feel that someone is wrong and to disagree with them. But I need to aim for understanding them. To hear them. I understand that some of us are supposed to be bold and to speak out against what we think is wrong, but can we do this with love instead of anger?

2)    Repent of my arrogance. This is a hard one isn’t it? But I need to. I have strong convictions and I won’t apologize for those. However, when these convictions cause me to be judgmental and hateful (violent), which they often do, I need to repent. I need to repent of my pride that severs relationships with people I love.

As with everything that I write, I’m not writing because I have the answers. I’m writing because I want to find the right questions and to move in what I think might be the right direction.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.