Fair warning: if you tuned in to today\u2019s post with hopes of finding the answer to why COVID-19 exists or who\u2019s received a divine endorsement in the upcoming presidential election, many thanks, but you\u2019d best find another resource. The Intramuralist has no idea, and we will not begin to exert any opinion veiled as truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m more taking a pulse of how we navigate through truculent times. It doesn\u2019t take a rocket scientist (nor even a college graduate) to discern that 2020 has been a tough year. It\u2019s been full of challenge, friction, and uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what\u2019s God got to do with it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allow me to immediately assert that I\u2019m a pretty imperfect follower. So I will humbly rephrase\u2026 what\u2019s God got to do with me? <\/em>\u2026 or how we each individually handle it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In these crazy, contentious times, in America\u2019s melting pot, what\u2019s God got to do with me right here and now?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The vast majority of Americans believe in God or in some higher power, accepting such faith makes far more sense than to believe we somehow accidentally, unintentionally came into human existence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According, therefore, to Judeo-Christian ethics, God sets the standard for justice, righteousness, love, law and order. He sets the standard for kindness, goodness, gentleness and truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That then should affect how we treat each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we demonize or denigrate the different \u2014 when we mock or marginalize the one who experiences life differently \u2014 who looks, loves, or votes in a way unlike us \u2014 we are implementing some other standard. When we suggest that there is only one right way to look, love, or vote, we are implementing some other standard. Even when it\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s, though, make it a little harder\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe we don\u2019t demonize or denigrate. Maybe we\u2019d never mock or marginalize, especially on social media. But inside, we just think<\/em> they\u2019re stupid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ok\u2026 maybe not stupid\u2026<\/em> let\u2019s go with totally misguided. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 erroneous, ignorant, confused\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If I believe that only Democrats or Republicans are full of integrity\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I believe that only black people or white people have something to learn or do\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I believe only Trump-lovers or Trump-haters are imperious\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I believe only someone else\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s always easier to enact \u201cthe only\u2019s,\u201despecially when it applies to someone other than me. That\u2019s where as an imperfect person of faith, I must honestly ask how I\u2019m treating another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the simplest, most convicting answer is a basic, universal teaching\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy worry about a speck in your friend\u2019s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, \u2018Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,\u2019 when you can\u2019t see past the log in your own eye?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what\u2019s God got to do with me now?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It means I focus more on me than you. It means I wrestle with the logs in my own eyes rather than on the specks in another. It means I deal with the ways I am not loving, I am not extending kindness, and how I justify withholding justice, honor and respect from some<\/em> people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, it means I don\u2019t denounce the inconsistencies in anyone other than me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because if I\u2019m honest, I recognize inconsistencies in me exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n AR Fair warning: if you tuned in to today\u2019s post with hopes of finding the answer to why COVID-19 exists or who\u2019s received a divine endorsement in the upcoming presidential election, many thanks, but you\u2019d best find another resource. The Intramuralist has no idea, and we will not begin to exert any opinion veiled as truth. … <\/p>\n
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