Go and Complain No More

Some things truly amaze me. Christians are a perfect example. The election hoopla suddenly has a lot of Christians on their knees, which I suppose is a good thing. But why suddenly rush to your knees now? Why not a month ago? Why not six months ago? Why did you get up from your knees in the first place? Is the fact that the election is contingent on a few hundred votes in Florida mean that God is suddenly going to shine forth and let his voice be heard? Is your God only powerful enough to sway a few hundred, not a few million votes?

A lot of Christians are saying very interesting things about what this election means. I find it rather arrogant to interpret current events as God’s divine action. Who are you to know what God is doing? It requires a lot of backpedaling. Assuming you can pick one candidate that God would choose (which you can’t), you could pray for God to let that candidate win. If the candidate wins, you claim God answered your prayer. What powerful faith you have. If the candidate loses, it must not have been God’s will. Now God is going to take us through a time of judgment and persecution to refine his people. Perhaps in another four years we’ll have the privilege of God’s favor.

Somehow I don’t think God works like that.

I’ve heard others say interesting things about God; that he doesn’t care about Social Security or prescription drug benefits, but he does care about abortion–the Bible says so. If God doesn’t care about Social Security, what does he care about? For some seniors, Social Security is their livelihood. Are you saying God doesn’t care about some people’s livelihood? If he doesn’t care about my livelihood, what else doesn’t he care about? Suddenly you have a very impersonal God. I’m sorry, but my God cares about little insignificant things in my life. I’m not saying he’s going to damn me to hell for drinking Pepsi instead of Coke, but he does care about the details of my life.

And then there are Christians who complain but do nothing. I probably fit this bill. We complain about problems but we don’t work to fix them. We decry the evils of abortion, but a pro-life vote every four years is all we can manage. We plead for someone to help the poor and the hungry, but we look the other way and coincidentally live on the other side of town. We demand that prayer be allowed in schools, but do little to support the fledgling Bible studies already in existence in high schools across the country. I realize we’re all busy people and can only do so much, but if that’s the case maybe we shouldn’t be so vocal.

And I love it when Christians forget what they’re called to do. Go and preach the gospel, making disciples of all nations. It’s a pretty simple command. But the ‘go’ part troubles us. That involves going into a world that isn’t very friendly. And once again we start complaining. But Jesus didn’t say, “Go and complain.” At least not in my Bible.

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