Conservative & Compassionate

This election cycle has had me thinking as I listen to all of the grand plans and positions of various politicians.  It seems to me that evangelical American Christians are seriously mis-portrayed by the media and perhaps misunderstood by much of the population in the country if not the world.   It seems to me as if it is generally thought that being conservative theologically, and having and open heart and care for the forgotten and hurting are seen as being mutually exclusive.

This is NOT the message and mission that Jesus charged us with.  He said that we should be known by our love.  He was always moved by the poor and hurting.  He said we should be known by our amazing love.  The Apostle Paul wrote that “true religion” was practiced by those who cared for the widows and the orphans.   Mercy, justice, and compassion are the fruits of a deeply spiritual life.  This does not mean that the Church needs to “water down” mankind’s need for salvation or to turn to a “social gospel” that only focuses on the needs of the less fortunate.  Instead we should combine both into the truly powerful message that Jesus gave us – they are both critcally important.

For example, when the evangelical church talks about being “pro-life” this should not only mean that we care about valuing our unborn sisters and brothers and saving them from the murder of  abortion – but it should also to extend to valuing the lives of those being killed in the multiple genocidal regimes around the world, it means that we should care about the starving multitudes in areas of the world that are currently unable to feed themselves, it means we should care about basic adequate health care for all mankind, it means we should get actively involved in helping solve the horror of the AIDS epidemic, it means we should protect those being abused and destroyed when they can not defend themselves in life threatening situations.  

This is not the government’s job.  It is the work of the Body of Christ.  We have abdicated our duties to secular governments who are ill-equipped to love, care and be merciful.

We must reach the world with the whole gospel; both the soul saving work of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, AND the fruit of living a life that exemplifies what experiencing that salvation does to us, in us and through us.