Christian Civil Disobedience

The events of the past few days have been heavy on my mind and I find myself going back and forth on the subject of Christian civil disobedience.  First, I want to say that I am a Bible-believing Christian and I love Jesus with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and seek to follow Him in all I do.  This post is not about what we SHOULD do, it is just a discussion starter.  I am not sure how we should respond to all that is going on, but I am doing the only thing I know how to do - look to scripture to see how Jesus and His followers handled situations like this.

My first concern with this is that in fighting for our ‘rights’, that we are focusing on ourselves and our cause rather than the hearts of those we fight against.  The Great Commission didn’t tell us to go into all the world and fight for our right to practice our faith as we please.  It says, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:19-20).  If we are fighting for OUR rights, are we telling people about Jesus in the way we were called to? Romans 13 tells us to be subject to the authorities and governments God has placed over us and not to rebel against these authorities in order to maintain a clear conscience. It also states that to fulfill God’s law, all that is required is to love others.  

My second concern is our perspective on our mission as Christians.  We seem to think that our mission is to condemn sin and that somehow people will desire to come to know Christ as a result of our reminders.  Throughout the New Testament the word truth is used over and over again.  Personally, I have always thought that truth meant the law, but I was reminded today that Truth means Jesus.  He said that He is ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life’.  John 8:32 states that 'we will know the Truth and the Truth will set us free' meaning only Jesus can set people free.  ‘Speaking the truth in love…’ (Ephesians 4:15) truly becomes telling people about Jesus rather than nicely telling them the sins they are committing.   As I mentioned above, God calls us to communicate His love and let that be the difference in us. It is not our job to change hearts and minds.  We can try all we want, but we can only modify behavior.  Only Jesus can transform hearts and minds.  We are only asked to tell and invite. When faced with Jesus, people become very aware of how they fall short and are then overwhelmed with his offer of grace in spite of it all.  

There are many situations where people disobeyed authorities in order to preach the gospel or to worship God, but not many where the situation called for a Christian to rebel against the government in order to fight for rights.  Yes, I do believe that the punishment for this particular clerk refusing to do a certain part of her job was extreme.  Most people would have been fired or compelled to resign, not jailed.  However, personally, I would have found her more of a ‘hero’ of the faith if she was doing what her job required yet slipping tracts in the papers or saying ‘Jesus loves you and so do I’.  We have a misguided idea that if we don’t point out a person’s sin or we do something that seems to condone their behavior, that we are abandoning our faith.  We need to refer to how Jesus related to those who needed Him most.  Are we really gaining anything if we maintain our rights but neglect to offer spiritual freedom to another person? Obviously there is no ‘one size fits all’ response because, on a physical level, a doctor being forced to perform abortions is VASTLY different than a clerk being forced to sign her name to a marriage license for a same-sex couple. Also, I realize that there are many other dynamics involved in this in regards to our government systems.  This is just something for us to think about because it’s not going to get better and it will most likely affect you personally in some way.  

Do you have thoughts about this? I’m sure you do.  Feel free to discuss, but please be courteous.  As we come closer to ‘the end’, it is imperative that we live in unity as Christians (Ephesians 4).

The Book of Lila

Throughout the Old Testament, there are books about specific people - Job, Ruth, Esther, etc.  In reality, these books are not truly about these particular people, but is their testimony on how God worked in them, through them and on their behalf.  These stories are ultimately about God and His relationship with imperfect humanity.  His love and mercy shines through in each of them and I believe that each of us has our own book of the Bible (forget for a second that we are commanded NOT to add to the Bible) that is our testimony of our relationship with God.  If we have children, our books will not only be ours, but will overlap our childrens’ stories.  

If you know me at all, you probably know my story. I am pretty transparent and love to brag on God and all the ways He’s working in and through my life.  I am amazed to see what He does and the impact that my little life has on others.  You are probably aware that my husband and I are in the process of adopting a beautiful baby girl, born last month, but do you know her story?  Today I want to share with you the first chapter of the Book of Lila.

To tell you this story, I have to start a little with the Book of Laura.  About 10 or so years ago, before I met my husband I received a word from God that I would someday have twins.  Fast forward to February 2011.  My son was almost 2 and we decided it was time to start trying for another pregnancy, one that I believed would fulfill that promise from God.  Time went on and we did not conceive.  During that time, we read ‘The Circle Maker’ by Mark Batterson.  At one point in the story, he shares that God told him to pray for 2 million dollars to complete a project he was working on.  He had no idea where the money would come from, but he prayed believing for it.  One day, a couple meets with him and tells him that God told them to give him 3 million dollars.  I felt after reading that that God speaking to me though that and that we would not only have the twins, but one more child would join our family.  In my mind, it was triplets, believing that my time was running short for two more pregnancies to happen.  I kept it to myself, thinking it a bit crazy, but as I was talking to a new friend one day, sharing my story about the twins (and nothing about the third baby), she said she believed that I would not only have twins, but that I would also have a little girl added to our family.  So I began believing more strongly that there would be three more children in our future.

More time went by and I realized I was showing signs of menopause and had been for a few years.  It took two doctors, several blood tests and about 6 months to finally have it confirmed.  In September of last year, I was told that I was unable to have any more children due to premature menopause.  The doctor said that our only hope for a biological child was surrogacy and that wasn't for us. To tell you the truth, I was actually relieved.  The pressure was off me and I could just relax and watch God work and that’s exactly what I told Him. Although we weren't planning to actively seek it out, adopting a child has always been on my heart and became even more so as I started becoming more involved and aware of abortion issues.  My husband wasn't as keen on the idea.  I wasn’t looking to adopt to fulfill God’s promise, in fact, I didn’t want that to happen, but I just felt strongly that it was something I was called to do. I had talked to my husband many times about it and he was always resistant to it, because he wanted to see if we would have our own, so I prayed that if God wanted us to adopt, for my husband to make the decision and say ‘yes’ to it. That was 2 years ago.  

About a month after being told that I was unable to conceive, on October 17, I got a call from a friend who had been made aware of a woman in need of an adoptive family for her baby.  I wasn’t really hopeful, knowing how my husband felt about it, but I approached him with it anyway, praying and knowing what I had prayed just a couple years before.  He was skeptical, but by that evening, he said ‘yes’ and we started the process.  A month later, we met the birth mom and she chose us right away.  I was present at an ultrasound and in the delivery room when my daughter was born.  God placed women in the delivery room that were Christians (and went to our church, although I didn’t know that at first) and I was able to have a room and stay right there with Lila.  One of Lila’s nurses after her delivery also goes to our church, which I didn’t know until just a few days ago.  Every new shift, our story would be shared and the nurse would come in the room asking me to tell it to her.  Lila had an impact from the very beginning. 

When we were choosing her name, we chose to put together one of Dave’s favorite names and one of mine - Lila Bryn.  Her name means, ‘You are mine from on high’.  Lila also means ‘Lilac’ which I liked because I felt that we had been in a winter season for the past 4 years and we needed spring.  She was due January 30, but made her appearance just an hour and a half after midnight on February 1, the very month 4 years ago that we had started trying to conceive.  In the Bible, 4 is a number representing a season and our season of barrenness has ended.  February in the Hebrew calendar is also a celebratory month in which they prepare for the coming spring.  Nothing is insignificant with God.

This little miss is such a blessing to us and I am excited to see what God has in store for her life. He has truly set her apart and placed her in a family who will guide her to follow Him, which would not have been the case otherwise. I still believe God’s word to me and am looking forward to bragging on Him when it happens.  Until then, we enjoy our ‘above and beyond’ baby.