My Catholic-raised husband used to tell me, “There is a fine line between loving and respecting someone.” When we love somone else, we respect them. When we respect another person, it’s an act of love.
Little did I know that message would be prophetic in nature, predicative of culture, a lesson that would be reaped, years to come.
Our culture, here in America, has presented as a white-washed tomb, displaying perfect photos, influential media, spewing out from movies and celebrities….
All the while, most people’s character inwardly bowed to gods unseen.
Yes, many went to church, took platforms, rose their bank accounts, and received accolates that took the place of our greatest respect. Yet…
Our love of God became flat and fruitless, deflated, empty, weak, and cowardice, in light of a culture we worshipped in the privacy of our very own hearts.
In March of 2020, I saw Coronavirus take over our land, fear gripping a people that had lived an entire generation in comfort and ease, $5.00 coffees and $200.00 pairs of jeans.
Up until 9-11, Pearl Harbor, Nazi Germany, and many of the world’s horrors were simply one dimentionally-typed stories, we read about in books.
Most of us children of Baby Boomers, or ex-Hippies, thought we lived free, excusing people and their positions, making love into some term that called us to outwardly accept everyone, while inwardly respecting no one.
We hurled our religion around like armor with holes in it, took in knowledge and thought it insolated us from the ignorance of our ancestors…
We clothed ourselves in wealth and appearances, removing the tie-dye of our parents, and presenting (on the outside anyway) false images of “togetherness”…
We rode in hot air balloons of “fake love”, while shattering any notion of respect for anyone other than us.
We were wise in our own eyes and foolish from our knowledge that puffs up.
It began without us seeing it, little gods rising from sports and achievements, successes and opinions on Facebook, Twitter and all kinds of social media.
We took love and watered it down, even in churches, to fit in with the crowd.
We propped up “love”, as the highest achievement, while inwardly not listening to, caring about or respecting the people we saw who were different around us…
Pastors fell. Leaders walked away. Even the Great’s ended their races, publicly and permanently.
Then, there was the strong and influential who were bullied out of town or made to pander to some community to avoid funds withheld or negative internet ratings.
We were raised to “respect ourselves” or as Scripture puts it, “love ourselves”. We held our own thoughts in higher standards than any other leader God may have put in front of us.
We made our own course and then added a little jingle out of it, “I did it my way”.
We demanded R-E-S-P-E-C-T, like Aritha Franklin put it, after others had stolen our dignity or didn’t lead well.
And yet, our culture never knew they were in pain.
They couldn’t see through their blindness and became captivated by a culture who said, “Peace, peace” when there wasn’t ever any.
Churches preached effortless prosperity, while neglecting their flocks and impoverishing the elderly…
Real Christians endured the fire, walking into the furnace instead of bowing to earthly leaders who wanted crowds to conform to their power or praise.
The people, God’s people became lukewarm. Yet, the Bible tells us, the lukewarm will be spit out of God’s mouth when the day of judgement comes.
Because we have taken love and ripped it from respect, taken God and tried removing Him from His
throne, taken His judgement, yet denied He is sovereign.
We fear man over god and cling to self, more than the One who rescues us from our sins.
And like a black hole, we let the media trap us and ensnare us, lead and mislead us into trepidention, causing us to close the doors to our homes, families and worse yet, our churches.
To make matters worse? We justify our cowardice as obedience.
The church that has worshipped money and approval are now being enslaved by those very same things.
The corporation that has once looked over abuse and mistreatment is now being mistreated, owned and manipulated.
So many are afraid to speak up, seeking man’s approval above what God says.
We cower in intimidation because we need power and approval. We crave the world we have never officially left.
Government officials (at least in my state) have become like little god’s. They close churches or modify them, giving government stipident, as payment for the churches slavery to a world system.
We close, fearing losing tax status.
Wander, while authorities condone outrage, like CHAZ/CHOP, the self-governing system in Capital Hill, Seattle, where one person just got killed by gunfire and two others were shot.
Good is declared evil, while evil is being called good. The world has turned upside-down and the blind have yet to see it.
We have lost respect for God, and thus don’t know His love like we need it. We have separated honor and reverence and the fear of the Lord, to play barter with some system that is godless and against us.
California just made the churches in a city illegal. Imagine that? A church was burned because it opened. And yet, we fear the public’s approval.
Stephen. The man of God. The first martyr. He was willing to die to preach the gospel.
Where are the Stephens today? Who am I, if I don’t live like Esther, willing to face the rulers of the land for the sake and legacy of God’s people?
Am I, are we, blind? Cowardice? Bullied? Intimidated?
Every move we make, every decision moves us, either closer to the God who rules and adores us…or away from Him.
The world divides and is swallowed up in evil when we separate love and respect, God and the character of the perfect man who left His throne to save us, amongst a wicked generation.
Jesus was not afraid to die. Not afraid to walk straight into the city that would soon crucify Him.
He didn’t shrink back and hide. He took the blade and even-more-so, healed the one who Peter cut his ear off, using human methods.
We are in a war friends. A war of increasing proportions. We cannot hide. We need not fear. We cannot retreat and long for yesterday like the Israelites freed from Pharoah.
We are in the desert, yes. But we are on our way to the promise land.
And my God, the one who I love AND respect, still does part seas, still does gush water from rocks, and still feeds His people with mana when we need it.
We need not fear.
In fact, let’s march around our enemies in power and praise, declaring the name of Jesus, with boldness and unaplogentic persistence.
The same God who crumbled the walls of Jericho, is fighting for you.
But first we must lay down our shackles, take up His promisees and see Him for what He is doing…
He is the giant slayer, wall crusher, eye opener, the power for all of us who still believe.
He is with us. But first…
Let’s learn to love and respect Him. Because without Him….We are nothing.
We need His gospel to be preached…Now, more than ever.
