Removing the Plank from Our Eye

On Christian radio earlier this week, I learned of a couple who has set up the blog Birth or Not, in which they are allowing the American public to cast their votes as to whether they should have an abortion or give their child life. I checked out the blog, and I have many thoughts swimming around in my head. I am definitely pro-life and agree that this is incredibly foolish and irresponsible of this couple to be doing this. I believe every life is sacred, precious, and created by God for His glory. With that being said, with this post I would like to look at a broader (and possibly more important) issue than the one that is actually presented on this couple's blog.

In reading the comments left by many of the "Christian voters" for this couple, I was struck and saddened by the hatred and anger that propelled the commenter's biased viewpoints. It seemed like they were actually surprised, astonished, offended that people could be so inhumane, flippant, and negligent of human life. Why they are so shocked, I'm not quite sure. Romans 3:11 tells us that no one is righteous, no one seeks God, ...[our] feet are swift to shed blood; in [our] paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace [we] have not known. There is no fear of God before [our] eyes..." Of course they are going to think this way, act this way, and have no disregard for human life. We did the same exact thing until Christ snatched us up, rescued us from the pit of despair, and gave us a new heart and new way of thinking. And so my question is this:

If Christ were still in the flesh, how would he be responding to this couple?

I don't think He would be lashing out, overturning tables, and condemning them to hell for the horrific depth of their behavior. I think He would actually be going over to their house for dinner, as He did with Zaccheus. I think He would be "meeting them at the well", as He did with the adulteress woman. I think He would have compassion, and I think He would love them in their sinfulness and in the error of their ways. I think He would be concerned with not just the ONE life that is in jeopardy (yet, already belongs to Him- Matt 19:13), but the three.

I'd like to bring up another convicting point here as well. As Americans, we live off the fat of the land. Even in economic downturn...we still drive SUV's, we still live in extravagant homes, we still eat out for lunch and get our Starbucks on the way to work. Most of us will stuff ourselves on turkey this week, then sit back and watch football, only to sacrifice by getting up early the next morning and gorging ourselves on the biggest day of materialism of the entire year. And yet we call ourselves "Christians". We are going to chastise this couple for leaving the fate of their unborn child up to public vote; meanwhile, 1,oo0 children around the world will die of starvation this hour, 30,000 today from a lack of food or preventable disease... while we sit back and decide what gifts to purchase our kids for Christmas. And so the question I ask is this:

If Christ were still in the flesh, how would He respond to us?

"He raises up the poor from the dust; He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor." 1 Samuel 2:8

"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." Luke 6:20

"That evening they brought to Him many who were oppressed by demons, and He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 'He took our illnesses and bore our diseases'." Matthew 8:16-17

*Addendum: this post is for me as much as it is anyone else. The hardest part of dealing with our addiction to materialism and our self-righteous "Christian" moralism is the fact that we are so blind to it. In Matthew 7 Jesus tells us to "Judge not, that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck our of your eye', when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." May the Lord convict our hearts, that we may not be found in false judgment of others. AND, may our obligation to care for the poor and needy not be motivated by guilt or shame, but by the Gospel and the transforming grace that has been shown to us, in response to our own desperate need for Christ.