Day 119: Standing Up

"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much."  Luke 16:10

This is a harsh call for all of us to remember where we belong.

We all live in this world where there are lots of jet streams that are beating against our heads every day.  Those winds consist of discrimination, disrespect, and pure hate.  However, we cannot let those things bring us down.

I thank God that I am living in a time when the American people are getting over their fear of non-heterosexual relationships.  Sure, there are still many challenges, and I do receive a curse from time to time, but I do have quite a bit of support, not the least of which comes from my very family.  At the same time, though, I know of countless people living in this same country, and even in my same city, who face discrimination from their own families for various reasons.  Traditions can be harmful, just as they can be comforting.  I have friends whom I talk through these situations they face.  I can usually come away from these conversations with a praise to God for helping me have an easier time than others.

And that's where this verse comes in.  Many times, when we see everything going quite well for us, we start to lose sight of what actually is going on around us.  There are wars going on in different countries, and there are terrors being made both abroad and in our backyard.  There are governments sanctioning the murder of countless people for being who they are, and there are mobs of people who want to make sure that things won't get better around here.  There are many poor people wandering the streets, unable to afford any sort of healthcare for some seemingly simple diseases, and there are yet even more people who won't have a roof over their head when it rains.

I have to remember to show the same love that God has shown me.  God has reached down to my level to hold me, and I need to do the same for everybody who is around me.  The Gospel calls all of us to reach out and spread the Kingdom of Heaven.  And what exactly is that Kingdom?  It's a kingdom of love.  It's something that we haven't ever seen here on earth, what with all the corruption, money, and greed that has existed in every single government known to history.  The Heavenly Kingdom is the realm of love that exists between gays and straights, cisgendered people and transgendered, colored and not, the rich and the poor.  If God can reach for each one of us, who waver in our faith and abandon God entirely from time to time, so too can we reach out to all those who live in our same world breathing our same air.

Day 115: Seeing God

"He who oppresses the poor provokes his Maker, but he who honors Him has mercy upon a poor man." Proverbs 14:32

Here's an important message for all of us to take.

In our society, we can get around just fine with a certain amount of wealth.  Usually, the type of clothes we wear and the kinds of things we bring around will show what our general wealth bracket is.  If we are lucky, we might be able to pass for someone higher up with some cheap knockoffs.  Even if one doesn't make that much, he can still try to make himself appear to be much better off by investing the little money he has into a fancy car, a pair of shoes, or some accessory that would cause many eyes to turn.  The bottom line, though, is that we need to show off a certain amount in order to be considered a "normal" person.

To go even further, imagine that we ourselves are really just buying a certain plating to put around our body, as if we were coins.  Chocolate coins can be covered in gold foil.  The outside is very shiny, but the inside chocolate, as delicious as it might be, is still not worth that same weight in a precious metal.  Look at the coins we have in circulation.  They shine and have certain colors, but they are not completely made of precious metals, if they have anything precious in them at all (except for our complete faith in money).

On the other hand, those who do not make that much money cannot cover themselves up.  They are living on what they need.  They eat the food that will sustain them.  They wear the clothes that will allow them to go about without being charged with indecent exposure or the like.  In other words, they are entirely expressions of themselves.  Whereas those of us who have enough to clothe ourselves with enough coating so that we can hide all our imperfections and/or rough edges, those who are less fortunate cannot.  And that's what came to mind when I read this proverb.  If we are going to treat all those around us, those living by stretching the truth - the politician who claims to be the savior when they are raping children, the priest who stands in front of congregations with full garb but who is promiscuous and breaking vows left and right, or even the one who has robbed many people of their money but still dresses in a coat and tie and shakes your hand as if he were handing you bars of gold - with utter respect, but look down upon the poor, who are we?  If we can't accept the truth that is placed before us in the form of humans struggling to make ends meet, then how can we even accept the higher truths about life and salvation?  How can we curse the work of the Creator while we tout the work of our lying hands and filthy money?

We need to see Jesus everywhere we are, even if we are presented with a picture we deem ugly or dirty.  We need to accept the whole truth that God presents us everyday as opposed to living off the crumbs of truth we deem most satisfying.