Ecclesiastes 3:9
“a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.”
There is huge talk today of patriots, conservatives, liberals, nationalists, democrats, republicans, and other labels we like to put on each other. Labels are subjective both to the person who thru out the label and to the person who was labelled, and as we all know each person can interpret things differently. These labels can cause hatred and division.
Personally, I think the only label we should stick with is “human.” Mandisa sings it best when she belts out “we all bleed the same” stating the obvious, what is on the inside is the same in all persons regardless of the outside color they wear.
I think for me, my self-imposed label is warrior, I fight for what I believe in and those of you who are regular readers probably already know this. The other thing you might already know is that I am a researcher, I like to dig deep and find both sides, study, compare and weigh each side before I make my decision and only if necessary, do I rely on Google.
Oh, I can get it wrong, absolutely. I can wander down the road of feelings over facts and it can trip me up many a time. But what do we do when the facts do not line up with what we are told? How do we react then?
Do we fight? Is there a time to fight to stand up for what we believe in?
I turned to the only source I know is reliable. The Bible. In Ecclesiastes it says there is a time for war and a time for peace, a time to love and a time to hate. How do we know what time we are in?
Jesus was the biggest revolutionary there ever was. He did everything outside of mainstream. He hung out with the rough side of humanity. He disobeyed church rules – He talked with the enemy, a Samaritan woman, He disobeyed “God” rules by healing on the Sabbath. He did not side with “one” kind of humanity, He loved them all. He raised the dead of non-Jewish people, He healed Jewish and non-Jewish alike. He occasionally followed the rules and occasionally broke them depending on the circumstance, but never, never did He not follow the leading of His Father. He always in life and death put people first. He did not play favorites and never has; He loves all people of the world. He loves all of creation for it is “His Father’s world.”
The Bible has all kinds of accounts of when God called His people to fight, to drive out evil and come to the aid of the oppressed. It is who God is, a God of righteousness, justice and holiness.
I listened to three pastors give alternative views about lockdown and what it means for people.
One said that no matter what we are to obey the government, no questions asked.
I believe this is how Hitler got his start because by the time they asked questions hundreds of thousands had already visited the gas chambers.
The other two said that they were opening their churches to whomever wanted to come regardless of fines or jail time. Of course, wearing masks, distancing, and hand sanitizer. They were not spouting that there is no Covid, they were not spouting that Jesus would make it right. They were voicing the concerns over people who have got no support in their lives and have been so isolated that they are not sure anymore that their lives matter.
There were 2 other’s stories I heard, one had lost 2 jobs since Covid and had not worked in months, was depressed and in despair and had been suicidal until he came upon an open church. The other person was a heroin addict who had lived on the streets but was now clean and sober for 4 months since finding help in the church (during the pandemic) to support him.
The other day I approached 2 men they had no masks, one was laying on the ground in the driveway of a store with his wheelchair beside him. The other man was sitting beside him saying that he was “protecting his friend so he won’t get run over” both had an additional influence of alcohol on them. Neither man was safe. Was it safe for me? No, for many reasons, was it necessary? Absolutely, it was humanitarian in nature and totally essential to fight for the survival of these people. Other help shortly arrived, and a crisis was averted.
In each of these stories there were rules that were broken but lives were saved because of it. I leave you to decide which route is helping people and which route is “wrong.”
The media has continually focused on Covid and the pandemic while ignoring a lot of major crisis issues that are happening all around us, one of the most alarming is this:
Last year, 2020 in the province of British Columbia they had the largest overdose death rate they have ever had – topped Covid. (it is not just in BC)
CBC news reported at the end of November 2020, (in BC) “an 89 % increase in deaths (from drugs) from November 2019. The service said 1,548 people now have died of an overdose this year (2020), compared to 983 for all of last year (2019).
"Tragically, as we reach the end of 2020, our province is facing a record-breaking year for lives lost due to a toxic illicit drug supply," said chief coroner Lisa Lapointe wrote in the statement.
"In the five years of this public health emergency, more than 6,500 families have experienced the grief and sadness of losing a loved one to the challenging medical condition of drug addiction."
6,500 families, not persons, so this number could double or triple if we counted how many family members were affected by these deaths. It is heart breaking.
I met a lady this week who has lost 2 family members to drugs. One her child, one her spouse and her last living child was addicted to drugs and she was looking for hope before she lost that one too. I cried with her.
I hear a lot of sad and desperate prayer requests in the Prayer Room. Many and maybe the majority are for family members to break their addictions before the addictions break them. This issue is a true crisis of epic proportions and it plays no favorites.
There are times where we need to take a stand and speak up, step up or step out to help one another, make war on the issues that are killing us, no matter what the rules are saying. Actions always speak louder than words and love is the common denominator. We need to make our actions count and then offer the kindness, compassion and love that God has shown us to each other because God forbid, it could be our family member we are in need of prayer for.