A Murderer for a President
If a Congressman murdered one of his constituents in plain sight among witnesses, what would you do? I would think he should immediately be arrested, thrown in jail awaiting a trial. Once convicted what would your punishment be? Life in prison? The death penalty? Set free to later become President?
So, you think I'm being silly, political or just plain stupid? You say that man could never become President? You say that man should be put to death for his crimes?
If you said "the death penalty", you just killed Moses.
Did you forget that Moses was the adopted son of the Pharaoh? Did you forget that he killed an Egyptian out of rage when he could have easily had him arrested? Did you forget that he fled and came back later to lead the nation of Israel out of captivity?
How quick and swift we are to judge a man by our standards and condemn a man to death. How quickly do we judge and execute harsh judgment of much lesser crimes? How quickly do we judge and execute harsh judgment against those who haven't committed any crime at all, but rather just annoy us?
We even go so far as to misjudge the poor, the handicapped and various racial communities. We think that nothing good could come out of (fill in the blank).
Now, take a breath and slow down. I'm not telling you to not judge. I'm not saying that President Obama is a murderer. I'm not saying police shouldn't round up the bad guys. I'm saying that God can take a man who has made devastating mistakes and use him to free a nation from slavery. I see it over and over again in the Bible. God takes a lowly man and exalts him so that God can be glorified in the end. God chooses to exalt the humble, turn weakness into strength and confound the wise with the simplest of things.
Health care, the struggle with death
Recently I found myself in one of those moments where I think someone misunderstood me and further assumed my position on a subject without asking. The hot button subject is health care. This is a hot button subject for America and the rest of the world. The President of the United States, Barack Obama, has made this a major issue lately. Now regardless of where you stand, on the right or the left, this subject seems to be crucial. I'm not here to debate the current legislation or even take a stand on it on my blog, so don't ask me to.
The real issue with health care is death.
Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
Man struggles with death, the consequence of sin. We want better, more health care or less expensive health care because we want to live longer, happier lives. We innately want to keep the final form of punishment as far from us as possible. We would rather not know if we were wrong about our belief in God, or our belief that there is no God. We struggle because this haunts our lives in the darkness, causes us to do insane things, commit atrocities and occasionally love our neighbor or do a good deed to make up for something we've done.
The truth is we all fear because we are all guilty. We are all sinners. We have all royally messed this place up. We have all done wrong against ourselves, our neighbors, our family and our Maker.
Romans 3:23 ...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...
My point: Health Care debate points to our need of eternal salvation and our struggle with death. We are all passing through this world.