Everyone is Guilty
Our naïveté as it relates to the issues of injustice and the societal mechanisms that bring about necessary change often causes us to imagine that the elected officials who fight on our “side” along ideological lines likely agree with our views on various matters.
In other words, we imagine that people in power actually share our ideological viewpoints. They don’t. Ideology and rhetoric are a means to power: to acquire it, to wield it, and to utilize it for one’s self-benefit. At the end of the day, the “lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life” are about power and our longing to gain it and our zeal to keep it.
We delude ourselves into thinking that we are above this cycle of longing, warring, grasping, and protecting. We grant the same “pass” to those in power who align with our cause and could seemingly help further our agenda. We imagine that, as victims, our desire for power is righteous and that the “other” who oppressed us is the true villain of our tale of woe. We imagine that those in power on our “side” fight righteously for “us”.
What’s even more fascinating is witnessing those who were most vocal about the abuse of power making peace with similar abuses of power when they service their ideological ends. The justifications go down smoothly. Yet the great irony is that they now, without realizing it, speak from a place of privilege that they previously despised when the “other” who previously occupied that place of privilege was, from their perspective, unworthy of the power that was wielded.
Here’s the great plot twist: our naïveté is not about how we view “them”, but how we view ourselves. The cry for justice enables us to consciously ignore the many areas of self-seeking and self-centered sinfulness that reside powerfully within our own souls. We never have to reckon with how corrupt and self-serving we would be if we were handed societal power and influence on a national and international scale.
We are in a national moment where everyone is being exposed and weighed according to our true character as power shifts as suddenly and as dramatically as I have ever seen. That neither “side” is handling the power shift all that well is to be expected.
For, as Paul wrote centuries ago, “there is no one righteous”. Not one. None of us stand on the rock of our own righteousness, and none can boast on their own wisdom. Yet the spirit of the age seduces us into imagining an exemption from Romans 3 that empowers us to grasp the superior moral position while reveling in the exposure of the morally inferior. This posture is a mockery of the gospel.
If God does not rejoice - He takes *no* pleasure - in the death of the wicked then our boast must be in Christ and Him alone, for apart from Him we can do *nothing*. We are no better than those we seek to expose or indict, in fact this national moment serves to expose our great need for more mercy and grace from His kind and tender hand.
I’ve read so many useless words across social media over the last week. So many profitless, empty, vain words signifying almost nothing. A few have called us to look at ourselves and discern where we can repent, how we can humble ourselves, and how we must seek Jesus. This is wisdom. Yes, “God is still on the throne” but wisdom of eternal value is to press beyond that truth to partner with grace, so that we do not miss or squander the moment we find ourselves in together.
How far can we go in loving Jesus? How can we give thanks to Him for all things? How can we, from a place of humility and gratitude, use this national moment as a means to deeper and more honest repentance and growth in love for Him?
If you read something that, when you are finished, stirs you to pray, repent, and seek the face of the Lord, you know you have accessed heavenly wisdom relevant to the hour. I hope that this long appeal falls into that category as well.
In Him,
David Sliker