If you would kindly trust me and allow me into your space, I would love to share a couple of thoughts with those of you who do not know Jesus.
I would also love to bend the ear of those of you who had been in the process of learning about Jesus, only to find yourself pulling back after seeing current displays of Christian Nationalism.
If you find yourself unable to believe what you are seeing and reading, especially from people who identify as pastors, it is because it is not of God.
I worry about you, Beloved Toe Dippers, the most. As Christians, we have been encouraged to create new disciples, so it should be Christians’ focus. We are failing you.
Please know we Christians are getting so much wrong. But that is human error; Being riddled with human error, believe me, I can speak to it. Human error is not new; we needed a savior long ago and will always need one.
But know this:
God has no laser focus on America.
God does not care about human-made concepts like political ideology.
The Christians who feel they understand religious persecution because somebody blocked their president on Twitter have no genuine understanding of religious persecution. Can they be mad? Yes. But it’s not even adjacent to religious persecution.
People who care about personal liberties over what is best for the community do not speak for God; they express personal opinions. Can they have opinions? Of course. But with the full realization that Jesus modeled self above the community. Individual liberties have no place in what Jesus communicated. People can undoubtedly care about personal freedoms, and it can be a source of American pride, but somebody should not connect personal opinions with Jesus.
My liberty concerns include the following: Christians who feel all other religions should be banned or not included or even feared. Because that puts my right to practice Christianity at risk – it does not aid it. And I will not have that put at risk.
Last: God does not favor Texas. We might, but it is again important to separate our personal feelings and thoughts God has and not confuse the truth.
Also, Jesus was a brown middle-Eastern Jew. It feels important to remind people of that fact.
Let us do better, Christians. That includes me.
Toe dippers, I want to leave you with one of the most critical conversations ever to happen:
(Contemporary English Version, Matthew 22:36-40)
36 “Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. 38 This is the first and most important commandment. 39. The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.” 40 All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.
Please remember that while humans did not create walking with Christ, our human fingerprints are all over Christianity.
Please never let a misguided one of us keep you from Christ.