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When Red and Blue is Washed White



Old Boat
We all see the brokenness of this world. We see violence, sickness, poverty, death, and a sadness that streams from this experience we call life. We also have a desire to bring the world back to a better state, righting the wrongs that we see.

So we attempt to change this world.

The canvas we see is not white as if fresh and clean, but warped and distorted, the woven fibers of time tainted by sin and death. In the darkness, we attempt to paint this world in a color that covers this darkness, this brokenness.

We paint in many colors, some bright, some dark.

We draw rainbows, smiling children, catchy sayings, cat videos, even Bible verses. We also draw the roaring warrior within, loudly proclaiming our authority and power over this world through boldness, pride, and dominance. We even display the good ol' red, white, and blue. Although most of the time it is just red or blue because the country’s real enemy is the other color.

We try to paint anything to distract us from the corrupted canvas that is behind it. No matter how many layers we draw, the darkness just keeps seeping back into the picture. This is because the fragmented colors come from our hands, our brush, our heart.

Restoration is not bad thing! This world is not how it should be, and God wants to bring it back to beauty once again. But there is only one Hero in this story. One rescuer. One Savior. It took quite a few years to figure that out.

Around 2007 I started getting more involved in politics. It was just a few years after becoming a Christian, still trying to understand the faith. Soon after I started campaigning for Huckabee, a leader within the Southern Baptist Convention, who wanted to bring Biblical principles back into America. I had bumper stickers covering my car, created some flyers that we handed out, and spent most weekends hanging signs.

Changing the world by applying the Bible as a guide for others to follow sounded like something that a Christian should do. I know the Bible changes things, as my life is a testament to, so maybe it can change other's also? That is what scripture is there for, right? To better mankind and society?

That is what I thought, but I was wrong.

After years of campaigning, fighting for political dominance, I saw how far from Christ I have been led. After carefully searching scripture I concluded that I was not reading the scripture like it was meant to be read. I was painting my own version of a hero and the result was not restoration, but more brokenness.

The word of God is alive (Heb 4:12), it is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correction, and training (2 Tim 3:16-17), it is a lamp (Psalm 119:105), a blessing (Luke 11:28), and perfect (Psalm 18:30). But the Bible can also be ignored (2 Tim 4:3-4), twisted (2 Peter 3:16), abused by greedy people (Rom 16:17-20), and can be added to (Rev 22:18-19).

The Bible can be used for good and evil. People used scripture to support slavery, lynchings, war, forced marriages, sexism, racism, and so much more. It is also used to drive people into enemy lines to feed the hungry, shelter the poor, heal the diseased, show grace to their persecutors, stand up for truth in love, and give up everything to serve a cause beyond themselves.

This contradiction of the conscience is not because scripture is evil, but because we are. We use anything in order to get our will, even if it means using the very words God has given us. This is why we need the Gospel, why we need restoration, why we need Jesus. We need a new heart.

What does it mean to be a Christian, really? What is the difference between working for the cause of Christ or the world? I guess the ultimate question is, who, or what, are we pointing to? Do people see Jesus in us? Or are we dressing ourselves, and our actions, to be the rescuer?

Some point to humanity, that goodness comes from within. Some point to the law as a way to force people to make better choices. Some point to a healthy economy. If you remove poverty, then people will make better choices. What about family, education, religion, art, freedom, love, pride, or democracy? Maybe they are the solution?

So many different choices, so many different idols. We all need rescuing from ourselves. Christ is the only hero, and He is worthy of our repentance.

As Christ washes us white as snow, God can restore the brokenness that we bring to the world. He can restore divisions and worldly solutions that cannot save, giving us a new heart willing to love like Him. No leader, party, philosophy, or anything on this earth can restore that brokenness.

Only Jesus.

It is only then can we paint a true picture of God’s restoration in this broken world through His Spirit. His sacrifice breaks sin’s bondage over us and the world's hold on our heart.

Who do you point to? Anything besides Christ is only an idol and ultimately removes glory where it is due, creating only more sin.

These are quite a few verses, but to conclude I would like you to read these verses from 1 Samuel 8:4-22a from NASB. This reveals just how easy it is to follow things rather than our God:
"Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; and they said to him, 'Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.' But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, 'Give us a king to judge us.' And Samuel prayed to the Lord. The Lord said to Samuel, 'Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them.'

So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who had asked of him a king. He said, 'This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.'

Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, 'No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.' Now after Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the Lord’s hearing. The Lord said to Samuel, 'Listen to their voice and appoint them a king.'..."
Who do you see as the hero? God calls for us to place Him where He belongs, as ruler of our lives. Stop fighting for, and pointing to, things that distract us from that. Only Christ can change our hearts and minds to return to Him again.

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