[Author's note:  I originally wrote this Essay in 2003.  After sending it out in an e-mail to a few people, one of them offered to create a website for it.  Now that the matter has finally found its way onto the national stage, I thought now would be a good time to republish it here.  While the substance remains unchanged, I have engaged the author's prerogative of revision.]

A CALL TO ACTION

~ The Most Acceptable Sin In America ~

There are about forty million American citizens who do not have health insurance.  Many more feel as though they are living on borrowed time-such as the single mother in Ohio who has been laid of twice in one year, the mill worker in North Carolina who is slowing watching so many jobs go overseas, and the small business owner in Florida who has to choose between paying taxes or buy health insurance.

And yet, while so many of us hard-working Americans struggle to make ends meet, our government has been spending our hard-earned tax dollars recklessly.

For example, on 19 November 2003, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spent $461,745 on its first annual awards ceremony, including $5,196 for official photographs, $1,500 for three cheese displays, and $1,486 for three balloon arches.

Think about that.  If you paid $5,200 in taxes, you covered the photographer.

And what’s worse, if you do NOT pay your taxes, the government will take everything you own to pay for cheese displays and balloon arches.

To put it another way:  Greed is the most acceptable sin in America.

As taxpayers, it’s time to expect a better return on our investment.

~ To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice ~

More importantly, as Christians, it’s time we did what the Lord requires.  ”And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

Justice must overcome injustice; mercy must prevail over greed.  As Martin Luther King, Jr. has said, “Ultimately, a great nation is a compassionate nation.”

And a compassionate nation is certainly NOT a nation where every man is out for himself and his iPod and his HDTV.  Lazarus is still begging at the gates, but the rich man still justifies his luxury, turning a deaf ear to the pleas of the poor and the sick.  Simply because he was more concerned about his wallet than he was about His Word.

So, as Christains, it is time to follow God’s holy commands.  ”I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and the toward the poor and needy in your land” (Deuteronomy 15:11).

Because God has always been compassionate and loving toward the poor and needy, He gave Israel distinct laws to care for those less fortunate.

The Mosaic Law states the Israelistes were to sow their seeds for six years and, in the seventh year, leave the land alone so that “the poor among your people may get food from it” (Exodus 23:10-11).

When harvests were reaped, the edges of the field were to be left alone because God commanded His people to “Leave them for the poor” (Leviticus 19:9-10).

Tithes reaped from harvests were also to be set aside for the poor (Deuteronomy 14:28-29).

Most significantly, according to Leviticus 25, every fifty years Israel was to celebrate The Year of Jubilee, which consisted of debt cancellation, the liberation of slaves, and the return of all property to the original owners.  As it is written, “Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other.  I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 25:17).  While the Bible never mentions that the decrees concerning The Year of Jubilee were ever carried out, it is clear that God gave His people a path to avoid permanent poverty-even in a fallen world.

And while the basis of wealth has changed since ancient times, God’s holy commands have not.  Redemption is the beginning of our walk with God, not the end.  ”Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22).

And the Lord Himself makes a very clear, very sharp distinction.  For in speaking to a backsliding nation, the Lord says of Israel’s ancestors, “He defended the cause of the poor and needy, so all went well.  Is that not what it means to know me?” (Jeremiah 22:16).

If, indeed, we do know God, our course is clear.  For the tide of history has turned, and today we have extraordinairy opportunity to help millions of men, women, and children made in the very Image of God.  And only by acting today can we help millions more tomorrow, our children’s children and their children’s children.

~ Make Some Noise ~

If enough people make enough noise to ensure that health insurance is a right for every American, the government will have no choice but to make God’s command to care for the poor a reality.

Therefore, if you do wish to follow God’s holy command, there are two very simple actions you must take:

1.  Write your congressional representative, your senator, and your president and demand health insurance for every American, in accordance with God’s holy command.

2.  Pass on this Essay to your brothers and sisters in Christ–and anyone else who may, or may not, be interested.

While passing on a link is as easy as clicking a mouse, our mission to fulfill God’s commands will die a quick death if we do not let our elected representatives know how we feel.  (Personally, I shudder to think of Christ’s disappointment if we have so much time for television and twitter and yet cannot write a simple letter.)  Therefore, the letters must be written.

(And, Yes, I have already written mine.)

Of course, I have no doubt that some of you are already thinking, “What about the Canadian health care system?  Or how about England?  That’s a mess!  What about the people who will use universal health insurance to their own advantage?”

Yes, it is true that some of the nations that do have health insurance for their citizens have their share of problems.  If anything, though, those problems give America a chance to learn from the mistakes of other natioins to make an even better system.

Therefore, do not be discouraged.

And, Yes, in a fallen world there will be someone who wants to twist God’s commands-just like the rich man ignored Lazarus-but that should only give us an impetus to see to it that laws are passed to prevent people from taking advantage of the system.

Besides, the many should not suffer for the sins of the few.

And if the church would stand up and be the church, we can make health insurance a reality for every American.

~ Left, Right, Sideways ~

When I spoke with someone about this letter-writing campaign a [six years] ago, he suggested that I join a local group that is working toward the same goal.

For a time, I considered it.  But then I realized that anyone who forms a group on the political Right will only alienate the political Left, in the same way that anyone who forms a group on the political Left will only alientate the political Right.

Unfortunately, as is so often the case when it comes to America’s deep political divisions, God’s commands get lost in the details and the debates because no one ever really listens to anyone–especially the Lord.

Of course, in America, everyone is entitled to his, or her, own opinion.  But if we are The Body of Christ, if we truly want to follow God’s command, we must work together to accomplish the same goal.

We must focus on our common ground.  For we are the children of God called to obey His commands, regardless of just how much our political and personal views have divided us.

We cannot go Left.  We cannot go Right.

We must go Sideways.  Together.

Most of us, surely, will say that abortion should not be included in any plan for universal health coverage.  And a few of us might say that homosexuals should be included because diseases and disabilities do not discriminate.

AIDS doesn’t care about skin color, hepatitis doesn’t care how much money you make, cancer doesn’t care about your marriage, and a heart attack doesn’t care who you voted for in the last election.

If diseases and disabilities do not discriminate, why should we?

(Scary to think that diseases and disabilities have always known some things that the human race has not.)

But everyone–whether they have AIDS, hepatitis, diabetes, cancer, have suffered a heart attack, or are suffering from some other ailments–is loved, equally and unconditionally, by The Most High God Himself.  And there is none higher than The Most High.

This is why a letter-writing campaign has so much potential-each person writes his, and her, own letter so everyone gets to present his, and her, own opinion regarding the specifics.

All we have to agree on is that we must follow God’s holy commands.

Who among you would are to disagree?

“Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”  ~Abraham Lincoln

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me.”  ~Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:40)

To read the original Essay:  Click  here.

To find and contact your Representative:  Click Here.

To find and contact your Senator:  Click Here.

To contact President Obama:  Click Here.

For more information about President Obama and Health Care:  Click Here.

“There were…complications.”

“Complications?”

One of my friends, whom I know to be a believer, has a problem with anger.

So I asked him, “Why are you so angry?”

He gave me a list of the health problems his family is facing, the financial difficulties he is enduring, and the trouble he has sleeping because of these matters.

But then he went on to tell me that this life doesn’t matter very much because a better one is waiting for him.

At first I got confused, wondering why he gets so stressed out about the things of this life when a better one awaits.

But then I got really confused.  Because I remember I used to get stressed out over the very same things.  Death.  Cancer.  Debt.  &c.

The loved ones I have lost have not returned to me.  And I’ve got a mountain of a valley of debt to pay.  But, I do not worry about these matters anymore.

Why?  The peace of God.

He has promised me that I am going to live forever.

Why should I worry?

Heaven awaits.

When I first arrived at my new season, I must admit I wondered what would happen when the next storm hit.

Would my monstrous grief return?  Would I fall back into the pit of despair?  Would get dreadfully depressed again?  Would suicidal thoughts snare my mind and trap my heart all over again?

My answer came one night when I met a girl from my church whose cousin had been murdered-though the newspaper mistakenly called it a suicide.

She had that look in her eyes.  Like the weight of the world, as she knew it, had falled upon her shoulders.

Dazed.  Distant.  Detached.

Stuck.  In grief.

As she shared details of his death, I listened.

And I still have the image in my head of a teenager dead from a gunshot wound to his head.  Brains splattered on the windows.  Shards of his skull stuck in the roof.

Eventually, I asked a few questions.

Then, most importantly, I gave her a hug.

Not advice.

And when we said our goodbyes, I still was left with an extraordinairy calm.

A sense of peace.

I have been through that fire before.

And the flames have purged the dross.

And so I am left with a faith in The Most High God.

The One Who Sends the Storms.  To bring us to Him.

Our Sunrise.

A season of peace that passes all understanding.

Not because we are blameless or righteous.

But because when we live, we live in Him.

As I have said:

“Storms of suffering will always be a part of living in a fallen world, but that does not mean suffering has to be a part of you.”

And that is still a beautiful sunrise.

Humility clears the heart

and

makes blue the mind sky.

I have no self-esteem:  I am esteemed.

By the Most High God Himself.

And there is none higher than The Most High.

.

Not so long ago, I read an article about a hideously legalistic church.  You know story, I’m sure.  No sense regurgitating nonsense.  It is, after all, just the same old song and dance.

But, there was a time when the music and movements would have bothered me a great deal.  To the point of argument.  And arrogance.

That was before my new season emerged.

Now, I even see darkness in a new light.

You see, several years ago, I knew a woman who had attended the same kind of hideously legalistic church.  Women had to wear dresses all the time.  And if, perchance, a woman were to cut her hair, it was said that she would lose the protection of an angel.

That is twisted truth, of course.  Legalism always is.

Nevertheless, the woman I knew had once believed it.

Until God sent a snowstorm.

He had left about two feet of snow on the ground.  And the next day, after the roads had been cleared, it was still coming down in a vicious wind that cut her skin like knives of ice.

Even so, she wore a dress that day to work.

In the parking lot, staring at the snow and feeling the wind shaking her car, she really wanted to do the right thing–as she had understood the right thing to be–but the weather just would not cooperate with what she had been taught.

Which, of course, meant God was not cooperating with what she had been taught.

But, not wanting to make trouble, she called her pastor.  He wasn’t around.  But his wife had answered the phone.

“Hi.  Um…it’s really cold outside and I was just wondering if it would be okay if I could wear my blue jeans from the car to the building.  The parking lot is huge so it’s a long walk.  I can change when I get inside, but it’s really cold out here.”

“Does the Bible say women can wear blue jeans?”

“Um…no.”

“There’s your answer.”

And the pastor’s wife hung up on her.

So the woman wore her dress from the car to the building.

It was a long walk.  And it was really cold.

So cold that by the time she got inside the buidling, she had decided she was never going to that hideously legalistic church ever again.

One snowstorm had changed her life forever.

In this new season, I remember that story as an example of God’s power and pruning and purging.

Legalism could not survive just one snowstorm.

But faith, that beautiful, beautiful faith she found on that long walk through the cold and the wind and the ice and the snow could survive any storm.

And she had learned the difference between Christians and Christ, too.

As it is written:  “A student is not greater than his teacher.”

A most extraordinairy lesson.

Because God always knows what He is doing.

So I don’t argue.

I teach.

…and, um, I kind of need a place to live.

[I am too tired to type.  Enjoy.]

From the clouds of ignorance

come the storms of arrogance.

I have seen many
trees in my time.

Much fruit as well.

Good fruit.
And bad fruit.

But, few seeds.

For I have only
known trees

in seasons.

I do know a tree
by its fruit,

but

I do not know
who planted the tree–

or Whom.

So, I trust The Gardener
to uproot and prune.

as only He can.

Has The Church ever kicked you when you were down?  Beaten you with the sledgehammer of hyporcrisy?  And then mutilated you with the chainsaw of judgmental rhetoric?

Rejoice.

Let me say that again:  Rejoice!

Because you have just met a whole group of people who need Jesus more than you could possibly imagine.  And if that is true for those we hardly know, how much more so for your self, whom you do know?

If The Church could be “the church”, it wouldn’t be The Church:  it would be Jesus.

But only Jesus is The Christ.

The peace of God is a gift
that cannot be earned.

To this I can testify,
as I did not earn it.
Few would dispute that.

But when I asked Him,
“Why me and not her?”
His answer was simple:

“Can a dove devour a snake?
Does the cougar hunt the crocodile?
Does the king of the beasts feast
upon the predators of the deep?

“I will empower who I will empower,
And I will devour whom I will devour.”

And so yet again,
He has opened my eyes:

I am devoured in defeat
to be empowered with His peace.

Some of the most religious people I know profess relationship.

While “real” and “authenticity” are the new shtick; it’s sick.

But, to me at least, Christianity is Communion:

sinners in holiness.

The tearing of the curtain of the Temple.

A Sacrifice for a Victory worth celebrating:

Life-giving grain and grapes.

Eat the bread.
Drink the wine.

It is written:

“And we know that in all things
God works for the good
of those who love Him,
who have been called
according to His purpose.”

~Romans 8:28

But, proud sinner, do not pretend to know–
neither His goodness nor His purpose;
for, now, you see but through a glass…

…darkly.