A Complicated World

If we have called on the name of Jesus and He is the Savior of our lives, we can know that we cannot be separated from His love, which can bring great comfort in a complicated world.  In verse 35 of Romans 8, Paul poses the question: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"

And, he gives these words of encouragement in verses 37-39:
37Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.38For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,39nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My goodness - we do seek the protection of the law as we seek to practice our faith and enjoy religious freedom, and we should.  But, I think it is important to note that we have a strong protector, who is our banner, our covering, our strong tower, our solid rock.   Even when we encounter trouble, we can know that we can never separated from His love, and from that spiritual fact, we can draw strength.  When we encounter the complications of the culture, we can rely on the simplicity of the Savior, who calls us to come to Him and enjoy the richness of His presence.

In John 16, we see that Jesus spoke to His disciples about enjoying His peace even in the midst of troubled circumstances:
33These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

It's a complicated world...

Just read the headlines:  a controversial piece of legislation in Arizona that was designed to extend religious freedom protections in Arizona has been vetoed by the governor there.  She was under a great deal of pressure from a variety of powerful groups, including the NFL, because these groups understood that the bill would allow businesses to deny service to gays and lesbians on the basis of faith.   Proponents of the bill, including the Alliance Defending Freedom, said that it clearly did not - that it merely protected businesses who desired to live and do business according to the dictates of their conscience and to keep them from being punished, as we have seen in cases from other states, where businesses such as a baker, a florist, and photographer have chosen not to participate in a same-sex ceremony and faced punishment.

I don't think that the supporters of this legislation, in Arizona and other states where similar bills are being introduced, are championing discrimination against anyone - but they would like to prevent discrimination against Christians and members of any other religion who want to live out their faith in the public square.  I do believe Governor Brewer was afraid of unintended consequences, including the loss of dollars to her state and the possibility of lawsuits that would inevitably arise.   It leaves me with a chilling feeling that businesses will increasingly face pressure to be part of activities that violates their faith.

Yesterday, another Federal judge ruled that a law affirming traditional marriage, this time from Texas, was unconstitutional.    In a climate where the very definition of marriage is being challenged, this can perpetuate the fear that our values are continuing to erode.

Then, you have this case out of Mississippi, where a federal judge has ruled against a public university professor that was allegedly punished for sharing his faith, stating that government employees do not have a right to promote a specific religion in the classroom, according to ChristianNews.net.

According to reports, Thomas Payne, a professor in the criminal justice department at the University of Southern Mississippi, received negative evaluations, was denied a promotion, and was told that his contract would not be renewed after a student that identifies as a Hindu lodged a complaint about his Christian speech.

In an e-mail, Payne had written, “[A]s a Christian, I am called to be an evangelical...[B]y that I mean when I am asked about my faith, that I stand up for my faith and that I tell people about my faith, which is appropriate and not illegal.”  He also noted, “I felt like I could tell my students from an evangelistic standpoint . . . that I would pray for them."   The judge said that he could not as an employee of a public university.

It is clear where we are heading - we cannot completely look to the law to protect our free speech rights as Christians.   Sure, we can support legislation that purports to do that, and we can elect candidates that claim to uphold our values, but the tide is strong in the other direction.  

Several streams of thought from my recent journey to the NRB convention come to mind here.   For one thing, as a number of guests highlighted, there are threats to our deeply-held values and our religious liberties, and I do believe we have to be diligent to speak out when these challenges arise.   We live in a nation that has been founded on the concept of freedom, and as people of faith, we can continue to attempt to exercise the freedom to practice our faith.   We have to identify the areas of the culture that represent an affront to our deeply-held Biblical beliefs.

But, that leads me to another theme from my conversations at NRB - I had numerous guests comment on the reality of heaven.  Now, to build on that, we recognize that while were are considered to be citizens of the great nation of the United States, we are ultimately citizens of heaven.   We belong to a kingdom that is not of this world.   So, while we are placed here with a distinct calling from God and we are empowered by Him to live our lives for Jesus, we do realize that this is not our permanent home.   We have to make sure that our relationship with Christ is paramount, and that while we face trouble in this life, as Jesus promises, we also can walk in the midst of turmoil with a peace that passes all understanding.  In a complicated world, it's easy to become distracted and even despondent - but if we keep spiritual things paramount in our consciousness, and seek to love God more deeply each day, then He will give us the resources we need - His love, His wisdom, and His power - in order to navigate this present world.   And, He will bring us into the world to come with a sense of joy and confidence.   To Him be all glory!