Apparently a full two-thirds of us are part of the Exhausted Majority. The polar extremes are in single digits percentage-wise, even though their voices seem louder than that.
A well-known political commentator recently said this. “I am not required to abstain from human contact for YOU. I refuse to receive a vaccine to make others feel more safe, because that is MY sovereign right to choose!” (capitalizations his)
My reaction is this. “I think that’s massively SELFISH and UNCARING.” (capitalizations mine)
I’ll be called all kinds of things (in ALL CAPS!) for poking the sacred cow. I realize I’m a 10 on the belief scale on this issue (see last week’s post) trying to influence a 1. And further, it disseminates the BS. But most importantly, my confrontation won’t work. It will make the lovers of this message rush to its defense.
However, in good conscience, I can’t not speak up. We need to confront such things when the stakes are high, like life-and-death high. Jesus did that. He confronted the Pharisees, calling them a brood of vipers. And although this commentator’s message was to everyone, not just Christians, a lot of Christians have glommed onto it, hook, line, and sinker.
Be reminded of this: Jesus wasn’t into us defending our “rights.” He taught us to come in second, or third, or last, in order to love our neighbors. Quite a different message than that of the commentator.
“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what….When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human…It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death…Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him…” ~Philippians 2:5-9 (The Message)
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He didn’t claim special privileges.
Okay, now that I’ve destroyed my inner peace for the foreseeable future (by being outspoken and knowing I’ll pay the price for it), let me say this. I’m not Jesus. Sometimes I’m selfish and uncaring. (I hate that in myself.)
And I need to remember that the loud people don’t necessarily represent most people. Truth is often found in quiet and internal spaces. Even though things look dire, hope is real. I just need to keep my eyes on the light.
“If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.” 1st John 1:7 (The Message)