Lean In
-“I know that the decisions I made put me in this situation. But I didn’t realize once I got here how extremely hard it is to get out.”
- “Nobody should speak on what it is like to live like this unless they have lived it themselves, and even then it’s different for everyone.”
Not To The Left Or Right, But Lean In:
We should passionately pray for and/orserve those that are hurting and in need. But you won’t pray or serve with passion until you have compassion. And you won’t have compassion for people until you have relationships with people. Right now in our present time, it seems like you run the risk of being scrutinized and rejected for showing compassion towards anyone. Everything is being seen through the lens of political ideology.
If you have compassion for women, you will be said to be someone who leans left. If you have compassion for the unborn, you will be said to be someone who leans right. If you have compassion for minorities, you lean left. If you have compassion for the veterans and police, you lean right. If you have compassion for immigrants, you lean left.
So we need to understand that if we see all these issues of compassion and justice through a political lens, then we have allowed our political ideology to become political idolatry. These issues of compassion and justice should instead be viewed through the lens of grace.
Grace is unmerited; nobody earns it. They just get it for being a child of God. And if you don’t believe that, then everyone deserves grace because they have humanity. If you can come up with a reason or a justification that a person does or does not deserve it, then that is not grace. Grace is not justified.
So here is a disclaimer if you ever decide to partner with, donate to, or support the ROC. Everything we do and give will go to people who use drugs, who are alcoholics, who have hurt other people, who have been to prison, who have warrants out for their arrest, who have stolen, who use foul language, who have vandalized property, who are trespassing, who are illegal immigrants, who have various sexual orientations other than straight, who vote for Democrats, who vote for Republicans, who look differently than you, who don’t go to church, who don’t believe in God or the same god that you believe in, WHO STILL DESERVE GRACE. What matters most is not whether you lean to the left or to the right, but instead whether or not you are willing to lean in and wrap your loving arms around a neighbor in need!
#ROCAndRoll
#ROCRetrospective
#LeanIn
#LensOfGrace
