Extreme Servanthood

           In 2 Samuel 6, King David has a wonderful, god-honoring goal: he wants to bring the Ark of the Covenant (the symbol of God living among his people) to the new capital of Jerusalem. He gathers the Israelite people and throws a parade, loading the Ark on a cart and surrounding it with musicians and dancers. At a rocky point, one of the young men walking beside the cart reaches out to stop the Ark from falling off and is struck dead. God had left clear instructions how the Ark should be transported--- on the shoulders of six priests who had purified themselves. It was never supposed to be transported by a cart or touched by a common man. The consequences of David doing the right thing in the wrong way was a man’s death. In Scripture, God expects his people to do the right thing with the right methods. We are to speak the truth (the right thing) in love (the right way) (Eph 4:15). A large part of how Christians view the current debates over th...

           If a fetus is a person and, therefore, its life should have the same value and protection as any other life, what should Christians do with this information? They should protect these lives, of course. This means seeking to reduce and then eliminate all non-life saving abortions. Notice, this is a different statement than “make abortion illegal.” Many European countries have far fewer abortion limitations than the United States, yet far fewer abortions per capital. France and Norway both have about half as many abortions per child-bearing woman and Spain has about a third. On the flip side, in the United States in the 50’s and 60’s (before Roe v. Wade), illegal abortions in the United States were as high as million a year--- almost double the current abortion rate. Abortions are legal in Mexico, but social and religious pressure against it are so strong that it has the lowest abortion rate in the world even when compared to countries in wh...

I am irrevocably pro-life. I should probably say that now because there is a point in writing these that I did not sound prolife, but, hang on, we will get there. Embracing a particular position does not require a person to embrace every position, argument, or methodology associated with it.           Today, I drove by a yard full of crosses. Each one represents children killed by abortion in Allen county. It was meant to be (and is) a chilling sight. It is also an exceptionally divisive one that leaves no room for conversation. Even my language of “children killed by abortion” is divisive. Someone who has studied the science and ethics, yet does not believe that a fetus is a child will---at best--- roll their eyes at the drama in much the same way I react to people who call themselves “dog grandparents.” Yet with over 600,000 abortions in 2016, this is not an issue that Christians can regulate to the gallery of political hot-button issue...

           Imagine that you are a parent. Your home country is plagued by poverty to the point that your friends and neighbors regularly die of hunger, preventable diseases, and dirty water. What jobs are available do not pay enough to support your family. Crime is rampant to the point it is unsafe for your teenage daughters to leave the home alone. And corruption is so common that these criminals are rarely punished. Education is mandatory, but insufficient. Healthcare is prohibitively expensive. There is a possibility of a better, safer, more secure future for your children a few hundred miles away. What kind of parent would you be if you did not risk everything for the chance your children could have a better future? What kind of law could keep you from at least trying?           People do not illegally immigrate because they are bored and want to travel; they do it because it is the best chance for t...

In his first epistle, John spotlights the love of God. For him, love is not a vague, fluffy feeling; it is raw, radical, and dominating in a Christian’s life. Love is objectively measurable in human actions: “ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?" (I Jn 3:17). And a Christian’s love for God is objectively measurable by his love by his for his Christian family: “ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen” (I John 4:20). If this seems like a harsh distinction, it is. And nowhere in this book does John qualify it or water it down. He truly seemed to believe that if someone’s actions are hateful towards a brother or sister, they lack the love of God.   If we express our love for our brothers and sisters by our actions and truth, what actions sh...

     There is a classic story of the drowning man who was waiting for God to save him; a boat, a helicopter, and a canoe came by, and the man turned their help down because he was waiting for God to save him. When he finally drowns and gets to heaven, he asks God why he did not save him, and God answers, “I sent you a boat, a helicopter, and a canoe. What more did you want?” Many white evangelicals may have a similar conversation with God when they meet him. They will ask, “We had prayer weeks, and massive prayer gatherings, and hours spent alone in prayer, asking for revival, asking to see churches grow, asking to see more Christians in America. Why did we never see it?” And God will respond, “I sent you new Christians by the millions; there are new churches being planted in American by the hundreds; I have churches in America that are reaching the unchurched by the thousands. Maybe you couldn’t see them over the wall you were building to keep them out?”   ...

          To understand a Christian model for thinking about immigration, we must take a step back from our preconceived ideas about one of the Bible’s greatest women--- one of only two women to have biblical books named after them--- Ruth. Ruth was an immigrant. Born in the land, language, and religion of Moab, she married an Israelite man, who himself was an immigrant. His family had migrated from Israel to Moab during one of Israel’s economic downturns looking for better work and economic opportunities. Once there, he and his brother both married Moabite women (Ruth and Orpah). Over time, all three men in the family died, leaving Ruth, Orpah, and their mother-in-law Naomi, alone. After hearing that the economy had improved in her hometown of Bethlehem, Naomi decided to return home. Orpah understandably decides to stay with her people and family in Moab, but Ruth vows to never leave Naomi and follows her back to Israel.     ...