For my Christian friends

One of the coolest things I’ve experienced in my walk with the Lord is how He sometimes teaches me profound things through the almost off-hand comments of others.   I was watching an old video of Don Richardson (author of “Peace Child”) the other day and he mentioned how most of the major Jewish characters of the Old Testament are shown interacting with Gentiles;

 

Abraham and Abimelech; Issac and the Philistines; Jacob and Laban the Aramean; Joseph and the Egyptians; Moses and Jethro; Naomi and Ruth; David and the Philistines; Solomon and the queen of Sheba; Jonah and the Assyrians of Nineveh; Elijah and the widow of Zarephath; Elisha and the Naaman; Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar; Esther and King Ahasuerus; Ezra and King Artaxerxes; Nehemiah and King Artaxerxes....

There are many others too, and even the above list is notably absent of many on the Gentile side of the equation.  Blessing the nations was of course the whole point of God’s blessing the nation of Israel in the first place (Gen 12:3).  Yet if we understand that most of the OT is concerned with exactly that, then it suggests that God is somehow more publically at work when there is interaction with unreached people.

That makes sense, because in such interactions He must reveal Himself through those who already know Him.  It is a small truth, but the implication of that is huge.  I know I can experience God personally through the spiritual disciplines (study of His Word, various forms of prayer, etc).   If I engage in more of those disciplines I am bound to experience more of Him in my life – personally.  Yet perhaps it would also be possible to experience more of Him in my life publically if I am involved in purposeful interaction with unreached people.  After all, isn’t the whole point of being blessed (by an experience of Him) to be a blessing to those who do not yet know Him?

Take a close look..

The other day Jon Stewart pointed out that the American media has been quick to condemn Boston marathon suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev without due process.   After Dzhokhar was read his Miranda rights (the right to remain silent, etc) he took them to heart and stopped talking.  The media (Fox News to be specific) has been pushing to have Dzhokhar treated as a enemy combatant.  Doing so would mean he can be whisked away, subjected to ‘enhanced interrogation’ and refused his normal rights, even though he is an American citizen.

I have no doubt that such a procedure would sate our collective thirst for justice a lot more than treating him the same as every other criminal in the system.  But as Jon pointed out on his April 24^th show, “In the wake of an assault on our freedom and way of life, we have quickly jettisoned the 6^th amendment right to a fair trial, and the 5^th amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.  What’s next?”  In the show, there is an immediate cutaway to various Fox News commentators suggesting waterboarding, wiretapping of mosques, search and seizure w/o warrants, etc.  All clearly illegal under American law.  One even suggested barring foreign students based on religious beliefs (a clear violation of the 1^st amendment) and another suggested Dzhokhar’s wife be imprisoned for wearing a hijab (a violation of the 9^th amendment). 

The amusing point Jon was making is that the one constitutional right that America won’t jettison or even tamper with is the right to buy assault weapons without so much as a background check.  The irony of such hypocrisy is profound.  It would be laugh out loud funny if it weren’t also true that random gun violence in America has killed 265x as many people as terrorism. 

It would be easy to dismiss that as a lesson about the blind spot of the political eye.  Yet the truth is that if we look closely – on a very different scale than nationalistic ranting - we might very well find similar blind spots in our own individual lives.  They might be less perturbing, but the principle is exactly the same. 

“The wisdom of the sensible is to understand his way, but the foolishness of fools is deceit.”

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/lawmakers-ask-who-knew-what-about-bomb-suspect

http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/shows/thedailyshow?videoPackage=133701