Over the last week, the news has been swamped with discussions and commentary surrounding the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade. I have been very consistent in my desire to keep politics outside of my personal life and the church to the greatest extent possible and this week will be no different. I think, as believers in a compassionate, creative God who came to earth so that we could live, the value of human life and virtue of trusting in his providence of the future should guide our opinions on the act of abortion. How the governments of mankind decide to regulate or legislate on these issues is an entirely different matter and I think is far less important than how we treat the people we see daily. Allow me to explain...
There is this sense in the media and popular culture that you are automatically required to have an opinion on many political and social issues. Political commentators and social media influences flood the airwaves with 'compelling arguments' for their side and vicious attacks against those who would disagree with them. As the phrase goes, "silence is violence" and you are committing a cardinal sin by remaining silent on the issues of the day... at least that is what some would have you believe.
It is a heinous act of evil that the world commits against us by peer pressuring us to take divisive sides on issues which, often times, don't really impact us at least not on a regular basis. So much of the recent discussion on Roe v Wade has centered around hypotheticals of what "might come next" which may never (or are not likely to) occur. The same is true of many issues argued in the public commons. No one party or faction is more innocent or guilty than the other. Every one of us is pressured daily to see our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters as opponents in an ideological fight that none of us created.
It can seem irresponsible to take an approach of "don't worry about that" when so much of the world is telling you to worry about everything, but take a look at how Jesus tells us to marshal our sense of "worry"...
25 “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? 27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. 30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith? 31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. 34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:25-34)
The picture painted by Christ is one where we chiefly concern ourselves with what God has placed before us, and let everything else fall to the wayside. In many of our lives, politics is little more than a hobby with real-world implications (to some) that we've taken too far. Politics has become like a guy with his gun collection who keeps getting yelled at by his wife for coming home every paycheck with a new "toy"; the only difference is that instead of guns, we collect 'outrage' and 'offense' and instead of our wives yelling at us, it is us yelling at our neighbors because the voted incorrectly. We have made the mistake of treating "the hobby of outrage" as if it is our life's purpose... because that's what the world wants us to do.
I have a suggestion: instead of immediately reacting to the injustices and outrages we see on television, stop to consider if you have reached out to a hurting neighbor recently. Check-in with someone who is alone. Spend some time committing a random act of kindness to an individual you see regularly. Do these things and see if the outrages we see on our phones and broadcasted on television don't start seeming less significant. Instead of focusing so much on what the world pressures us to care about... spend some time caring about one another. Let tomorrow worry about itself and today worry about the work God has placed right in front of you.
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