Seeing Beyond our Bias - Day 163 Month 6-12 Week 24-2
Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year)
Joshua 24, Psalm 129, Jeremiah 41, Acts 4:13-37
Seeing Beyond Our Bias
“As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua spoke this as a challenge to the people of Israel. He tells them to choose now; serve the gods of your fathers or gods of the land they are now living or serve the LORD. Then he tells them they will not be able to serve the LORD because He is holy and he knows that they will still serve other gods. They argue and tell him no - they will serve the LORD.
I have no doubt the people of Israel had good intentions but when you set the imperfection of man's heart beside a holy God, man is destined for failure on his own. This is exactly why we need Jesus. Jesus, the only righteous perfect man who would die in our place so that we might be declared righteous before God. It was only a matter of time until Israel would fail the covenant that Joshua made with them that day.
I find it interesting that the failure of the Israelites turns into stubbornness in the Jewish leaders when Peter and John are jailed even though they admitted a “noteworthy miracle” had taken place through Peter and John. So rather than admitting that this could be of God, they threaten Peter and John. They “command” them to stop talking about Jesus. Peter and John answer “whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard,” Even after this, the leaders still threatened them and sent them on their way. The leaders did not even consider that maybe it was of God.
To me this is obvious. The Jewish leaders were more interested in their own power and leadership than God. Have you ever come to an obvious conclusion but it feels like you are the only one recognizing it? I see this happening in US politics all the time. You see 2 sides of faith in US politics where one side uses scripture to support their removal of immigrants, removing aid for the poor and using war to support what they see as righteous and simply using faith to justify what seems cruel to me. The other side stands by the basis of love for one another, welcoming the immigrants, supporting those in need and avoiding conflict where people will die needlessly.
You can tell in the way I am writing, that I have a bias. Unfortunately even in faith, each and every one of us has a bias. For example, the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest denomination in the US, has 12.3 million members. They have a strong bias against women in leadership because of their interpretation of some scriptures. Another example is that many in that denomination vote republican simply because they believe republican is a more Godly way to vote. I can’t fault anyone for that bias because it’s what they have learned since childhood. Most of my life of faith, I have had difficulty with some of the things I have been taught since I was young. When I had to hire someone to work side by side with me in my role in The Peoples Church, I was thrilled when it turned out the best candidate was a woman for a role that historically was predominantly for men. That was because I had a deep sense that women need to be able to use their gifts in the church world just as much as men. When I saw women leaders outside of the church but saw that women were relegated to lesser positions in the church - I struggled with that. When I read the words of Jesus and learned of His witness in the New Testament, He loved everyone and gave special attention to those in need. It causes me to question how people of faith can turn against the immigrant and the person in need. I had to challenge myself and recognized I also need to see things through the lens of Jesus if I’m going to have an understanding of God.
Unfortunately the religious leaders that had a problem with Peter and John held a bias that made it impossible to see the truth of what Peter and John were saying and doing. My encouragement to you today is to understand your bias to the best of your ability and look for real truth. I believe that if you are willing to do this and ask God to help take off your blinders, you will find Jesus. You will recognize that Jesus was there all along.
Have a great day!
Steve
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