Thought for Today
Genesis 2:7 then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.
Micah 6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Luke 10:27 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
James 2:17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
What defines and determines an individual’s value? Value to self, value to others, value to society? Who decides? Who sets the parameters for evaluation of the questions and what is the arena of the evaluation? As an engineer, my mind also wonders, what are the units of measure?
If I am honest with myself, I must admit that I am more interested in that question of “Who decides?” than I am in the other questions. I suspect that is true for most of us. Honesty also compels me to admit that my own opinions are based on my nation of origin, my area of birth within that nation, my family and my faith. In his trial, Paul described himself as, "Acts 23:6 Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead." I am a 3rd generation Texan, an American and a Protestant.
I have also read the Bible. I have even attended seminary to learn more about the Bible, Christianity, Protestantism and the history of our faith. Although not raised in a credal faith tradition, since the first time I heard it, I have long loved the Apostles’ Creed. Its beginning offers me a foundational basis of belief, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord.” Combined with those verses above and with Paul’s words to the Ephesians in 2:8, I understand my own worth, my value as that of being a child of God. My faith in Jesus as the Christ assures my place in eternity.
But, I am also an American. If I were drawing a Venn Diagram of all of this, with one circle encompassing my national identity and the other circle encompassing my faith, the area of their overlapping would describe the arena where I live my life. (And you thought there could never possibly be a use for Venn Diagrams!)
There is a ‘dust-up’ much in the news currently about words spoken by our President about the Roman Catholic Pope. In turn, the Pope has publicly responded. Although I am not Roman Catholic and firmly disagree with some of that church’s theology, I do believe the Pope more accurately understands that he and the President operate in separate but overlapping circles. I agree with the Pope’s comments about love and peace, with his doubt about ‘Just wars,’ and about the current conflicts as being morally just. I also agree with the publicly stated words of numerous Roman Catholic clergy that ‘nations have the right to secure their borders.
At times, it is hard for most of God’s children to isolate their political, economic and theological spheres of existence. As an American, I live in a constitutional republic which has a capitalist economic system. Neither our political nor our economic system defines my theological beliefs, although both do influence and impact my faith practices. (e.g., I do claim the tax deduction for charitable contributions)
It is easy to forget that there are faithful Christians living in other nations with other forms of government and other economic systems. And, there are other good people, other children of God who live in our nation but are not Christian, just as there are Christians living in nations that are not republics nor are they capitalist.
One of the current theaters of world conflict involves our nation in conflict with a theocratic nation. Our Constitution guarantees our freedom of religion. That is not true everywhere. The entire concept of ‘separation of church and state’ is foreign to most Islamic nations. We need to be constantly cognizant of that.
What defines and determines an individual’s value? Value to self, value to others, value to society? I believe God determined my value, your value, everyone’s value when God breathed the breath of life into me, you, and everyone else. I believe we must honor the value of every child of God. I believe Jesus’ words above about loving God and loving each other define the parameters of how we do so. And, I believe James was correct. It is not faith unless we put it into action.
Stay safe, love God, love each other, act like it, trust God,
Pastor Ray