A Word for This Hour - Micah 6:8

Micah 6:8

He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

(NIV)

I was led to this verse just yesterday. I have read it many times before, and even wrote about it in seminary (which I am including in the StandUpForFaith.com Library here). It's an awesome verse and passage.

I believe this is God's word to our elected officials for this hour: Act justly (or do justice in NASB), love mercy (or kindness), walk humbly with your God.

Not to weigh in on too much political ideology here, but justice and mercy make the difference between Conservatism and Libertarianism. There are those who equate "true" Conservatism with Libertarianism, which I define as an extreme view of government uninvolvement is basically everything. This socio-economic "survival of the fittest" has no regard for people, or their inherent value as carriers of the image of God. You are literally on your own; I do not see how Christians can be political libertarians, while following Jesus' own directive to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, or even heal the sick. (Likewise, I see the difference between Conservatism and Liberalism as a legitimate disagreement over the "best," most "efficient" manner in which to provide justice and mercy, and whether the Government is always the best agent to insure it.) I consider myself a Conservative, not a Libertarian - but a Christian first.

Biblically, justice is the term mispat, and mercy is the term hesed, which is why it can also be translated as kindness (NASB). Sometimes hesed is also translated as lovingkindness - and when some some say that there is no grace in the Old Testament, I point to hesed, the OT equivalent of agape love.

Mispat and hesed uphold God's will and recognize the needy; they are both to be loved and done, felt and acted upon.

Walk humbly with your God. Over the years of working in politics, I served a couple truly great men, and several real "putzes." Their humilty and arrogance almost always was in indirect proportion to their accomplishments. It was very tiring.

Humilty demands obedience to God, careful attentiveness to his will, personal modesty, and true consideration of others. There is no place for pride, self-assertion, or any other form of hubris toward God, other people, or even oneself.

Leaders, elected officials - we need you to do justice, to love mercy, adn to walk humbly with God.

We need you to heed this word, because we want you to be successful. And I can imagine no greater recipe for success.

For my part, I am praying this over the leaders of our region.

The Wrong Way to Stand Up for Faith

This has been bothering me for a couple months now. Part of our mission for StandUpForFaith.com is to encourage and even cajole Christians to be active in their faith publicly, meaning in the business arena and the public square. BUT, to stand up for faith in a wise, discerning, and grace-filled way, which is what I believe is honoring to God. Sure, confrontation happens – Jesus was no wimp or push-over. At the same time, Jesus was attractive. People, the masses, flocked to him. It was the religious establishment, and those that abused it for their own ends, that got whipped…

So, when my family went to see the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day, we saw this:



Hopefully, you can see why it bothers me. Jesus caused 9-11??? Jesus kills?

Show me this in the Bible… please.

Moreover, when these people walked by, there was booing. People were booing the name of Jesus Christ.

Actually, they were booing these knuckleheads – but how many of them were thinking, “That’s how those hateful Christians are.”

I just don’t understand how you arrive at this view of God.

They probably went on their way home and congratulated themselves on taking such a strong public stand. They probably told themselves they conveyed truth, even if the truth was unpopular.

I just can’t imagine God being pleased with this. Was there one person they could point to that accepted Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives because they saw these signs?

I want Christians to stand up for faith in the public square… but not like this.

On the Local Front

Politics in our area is getting about as dirty as it gets.

First, the Mayor of Ontario last year, was caught in an extramarital affair. That’s bad, of course, and made worse publicly by the fact that he is also a pastor.

What’s even worse than that though is the way it all came out. Someone, obviously his political opponents, knew of it and (anonymously) hired a private investigator and an attorney to document the affair and basically make it as public as possible.

Fast forward to the last couple months. Mayor Paul Leon has been humbled. He is reconciling with his wife – yes, they are still together. I don’t know if he has resumed his role as pastor of a local church or not – the last I heard he was on leave. But people are still coming forward at City Council meetings demanding his resignation for his betrayal, as well as demanding a criminal investigation as to whether it was done on “city time” or with public resources.

First, elected officials do not punch a clock – there is no such thing as his being on “city time.” As for public resources, that should be easily discerned by checking the credit card statements from last year for local hotel charges… if he even has a city credit card… I don’t know.

I do know this: I know Paul Leon, and he has changed. He is more humble, and when he said publicly, that “last year was not my best year,” that his family and many close friends have forgiven (or are forgiving) him, and further that it hurts that many friends were lost because they can’t forgive him – I believe him. I hear from Paul one who fell, and has repented. I see in him and his wife a couple with troubles publicly exposed and humiliated, yet together.
It’s another awful example of a Christian leader in public moral failure. I do not excuse it or lessen it in any way. But to see political opponents attempt to capitalize on it the way they have, frankly makes me sick.

I pray for Paul, and his wife and family, regularly, and I hope anyone who reads this does as well.

Catching Up...

It’s been some time since I blogged on anything, and yet much has happened, so I will attempt to give at least some of my (Christian) perspective on the events of the last several months… without being too wordy.

Proposition 8
We are still awaiting this to be adjudicated. It’s my understanding that the California State Supreme Court will be hearing the case next month (March). The argument being made against it is that it makes such a drastic change in the California Constitution that it goes beyond an Amendment, is therefore a “Revision,” and so must originate from the Legislature rather than by petition (yeah, right)…

I just don’t see how the Court can overturn an Initiative Constitutional Amendment without also trashing the entire initiative process. The reason Prop. 8 was circulated was so that it would be stronger than the Initiative Statute that was declared unconstitutional (Prop. 22) – basically, a constitutional amendment, by its nature, is constitutional… Now the Court may tell us that we can change our Constitution through the petition/initiative process as long as we don’t change it too much? Or, really, as long as we don’t change it in a way that the liberal minority disagrees with…

Voiding Prop. 8 does nothing less than erase all value in the Initiative process all together.
Keep praying.

President Obama
Rush Limbaugh received a lot of commentary by saying, out loud, that he does not support the new President… or in context, that he does not support the new President’s policies (different from not supporting the President himself).

I get where he is coming from. I have heard Obama speak in person at Saddleback Church with Rick Warren. Frankly, I heard in him a man of Christian faith, though from subsequent speeches, one coming from a liberal, “liberation theology” background. I disagree with him, and have my concerns.

I was amused at all the fuss over Rick Warren offering the invocation at the Inauguration. I thought Pastor Warren offered a heart-felt prayer for our nation and leader, and addressed it to our Creator and Lord, unlike many political event invocations I have heard… Was the choice of Warren to lead that prayer equally heart-felt on the part of our new President, or was it some kind of sop to conservative Christians across the country? I honestly don’t know. And as for the liberal uproar over a Pastor who disagrees with homosexual marriage… are you kidding? At that standard, I guess no Christian Pastor would be acceptable, really – it was an argument against him from extreme religious bigotry.

But what’s really getting to me are President Obama’s first acts since assuming the office. No, not the “Stimulus” package… One of Obama’s first acts was to repeal something called the “gag rule.”

It had been U.S. policy under President Bush (and my understanding is this has gone back and forth at least back to Reagan depending on who was in office), that “prohibited the U.S. Agency for International Development from granting family-planning funds to any overseas health center unless it agreed to use its own, private, non-U.S. funds for abortion services or counseling,” according to a ProChoiceAmerica press release.

In other words, no taxpayer money for abortions overseas.

It does not say money won’t go to such organizations that offer abortion services, but that they can’t use our money to provide abortions; they have to fund that from a different source.
I agree with the policy, frankly, though the press release typifies opposition as being “hostile to birth control.” A bit of an overstatement, wouldn’t you say? (This is actually my main problem with politics today – it is dominated by unthinking extremes, which demonize any reasonable disagreement as being far more/worse than what is actually said…)

Here is my main point, and it is not to argue about the gag rule, or whether these “family planning” groups should be able to support themselves with/out U.S. taxpayer funding and abortion services…

President Obama has tried to portray himself as a pragmatic, a moderate, someone who will listen to all sides. Heck, he’s even friends with Pastor Rick Warren! But all I have seen from his actions are that of someone coming from the far liberal left in everything he does, regardless of what he says.

Still, I am committed to pray for him, as my nation’s President. I pray for wisdom from above, for divine encounters with Holy Spirit, and always for grace.