If you’ve read our other posts, you’ve learned that corn allergy and homeschooling are big parts of our life. However, we would be remiss if we didn’t discuss the single most important thing that defines us…our belief that Jesus Christ gave His life to reconcile the world to Him.  

With today being Martin Luther King Day and after the recent events in our country, we thought it was time to spell out exactly how our Christian faith guides our political views and community interactions. 

We believe that the Bible is the unit by which we should measure all of our daily interactions.  We believe in looking to Biblical scripture and principles to be our example, more specifically, Jesus. We strive to mimic Jesus’ interactions with those around Him.  We seek to chase after the teachings of the One who welcomed all with open arms and love.  

We want to live with 1 Corthinians 13 etched into our hearts. We challenge ourselves (and fall short on a daily basis) to have everything we do and say to be done in love.  We know that we can have the solution to the world’s problems, but if we don’t disseminate that solution with love, we are merely a noisy gong to the ears that we desire to implore. Make no mistake, this does not mean we believe in being passive, apathetic, indifferent, or complacent…just the opposite, actually.  We believe we are called to stand up and to spread Truth as described in the Gospels.  However, we are on a quest to ensure we speak Life into those around us via love, kindness, mercy, and justice. 

We look to James 2 that tells us faith that isn’t accompanied by action is dead.  James 2 also says that even the demons believe in one God…and shudder.  We want our faith to be more like Jesus’ not the demons.  We want our faith to be shown through how we treat our community, how we stand up for the oppressed, how we embrace those we may not agree with, how we love our neighbors. We want our faith to be proven, not through words, but through actions. “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15-16) 

We believe, as Christians, we are called to engage in civic community, this includes the sociopolitical platform. Let me be clear, we do not believe that God fits into any political party or platform.  We do not believe one side of the political spectrum is more Godly than the other.  We intend to deconstruct the idea that Christianity and Patriotism or Nationalism go hand in hand.  We have a fundamental belief that all are made in the image of God and that Jesus came to give life so that we may have it more abundantly.  Therefore, we support policies that affirm human dignity, whether they be considered conservative, progressive, or liberal.  We do not align ourselves with any party outside of the party of Jesus. 

That being said, we have had a lot of challenges to our stance in the year 2020.  I am not here to call out those individuals or groups.  I am only here to explain where we are as a family and how our faith has influenced our actions and decisions. 

Growing up in the South, Jason and I were both keenly aware of the blatant racism that existed in our country.  We knew of the not-so blatant racism, but failed to realize how it threatened the very threads of our country and humanity. 2020 threw punch after punch that brought it to the forefront and showed us just how much work still needed to be done.  As the Church, Proverbs 31 tells us to speak up for the oppressed and to defend the rights of the poor and the needy.  Standing on that scripture and many others (Jeremiah 22:3, Micah 6:8, Psalm 103:9, Luke 10, Isaiah 59:16) we strive to push for justice in all forms.  We fight to protect the dignity of ALL human life.  We support social justice as a Biblical principle.  

“I can’t breathe.” These words have echoed in our minds and our hearts since May of 2020.  We wept, like many others, as we watched that horrific video.  We mourn the loss of life, especially in such a nonsensical manner.  As people who have really sought to allow our faith to be the lens through which we see the world, we had a reckoning within ourselves.  We realized that, even as we had strived to show love and mercy and justice to our neighbors, we hadn’t done enough.  As the Church, we have a duty to stand in the gap for those around us, and as the Body, we, collectively, have failed to do so.  Not just for George Floyd, but for countless others who aren’t living in the same America my family live in, the America Jason went to war for.  

Though racial injustice is definitely heavy on our hearts, this past year, in particular, allowed us the time and space to explore how we can use our Christian faith to speak up more as Proverbs instructs us.  Yes, we went to protests, but we also knew that we needed to put our faith into action in other arenas.  We dove deep into many of the hot political topics as they related to our Biblical foundations.  We reaffirmed our understanding that we must follow Jesus over any institutions made of man. So when we are deciding which candidate to support or which platform to give our resources to, we look to Jesus.  Jesus…the One who went to the house of tax collectors. The One who allowed a woman who was outcast from society to touch the hem of His robe and THEN spent time listening to her. The One who said “Let the children come to me” even as His disciples rebuked them.  The One who healed the lepers who were discarded by their communities as “unclean.”  The One who met a well-known Christian persecutor on the road.  The One who, after his resurrection, showed himself to a woman, who used to be a prostitute, before anyone else. The One who hung on a cross and with His dying breath spoke words of love for those who were killing him.