Social Justice, Politics: My Thoughts On the State of Our Country According to Scripture | Proverbs

Nov 17, 2020    Mister Brown

I have been getting a lot of questions about how I’m dealing with the political environment and issues around social justice. I think with social media, we feel like we always have to say something or state our opinion about a certain topic. We may feel pressure to say something or take a side on an issue. But is that what we are really called to do as believers?

When I give my opinion about something, I start with this statement, “From the information, I have available to me, here are my thoughts.” From social justice to the 2020 election, whatever my opinion is, I will start with this statement. In a lot of these situations, we don’t have all of the information in order to make a well-thought-out opinion. If we end up being wrong about a situation, we won’t admit we were wrong or correct ourselves.

I know it’s challenging. When you hear something that is shocking and cuts into your sense of right and wrong, you want to tell people about it. I implore you to slow down. Fact-check the story yourself. Verify if the information is true or not and whether you should share it or not. I don’t want to spread false narratives and you probably don’t either.

Some of these narratives are causing division in communities, families, and churches. I don’t want my opinions on a certain topic to cause division in the places that are important to me. Do you? Sometimes we need to agree to disagree. Most of it we don’t have control over. Think about this: in light of eternity, do you need to lose family and friends over some of your opinions? Do you need to lose your witness to the world as a Christian in order to stand by your opinions?

I am sharing what has been helping me during this season of life and it involves turning to God’s Word and slowing down.

Ask this question: What is God doing in the life of believers? How is He showing us right now that this world is not our home? It doesn’t mean that we don’t engage in life, but it reminds us of where our hope comes from.

Proverbs 18 has been helping me with navigating this season of life. I want to have a voice of reason and be willing to hear other people’s opinions and thoughts and not beat them up for it.

Proverbs 18:2 says, “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.” A lot of people want to express their opinions, but don’t want to have a dialogue or a conversation. When they find out that you disagree with them, they will start cutting you down and calling names. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a part of that. When we can have real conversations about issues, we can learn from each other.

Proverbs 18:13 says, “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.” We often give answers before we hear the whole story. Be careful so it is not to our foolishness or shame when we are sharing news that we don’t really know the whole truth about. Realize the truth about social media; you may only be getting one side of the story.

Proverbs 18:17 says, “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” This is where my statement comes from: “From the information, I have available to me, here are my thoughts.”
If you have kids or have worked with kids, you know what this verse is about. Whenever something goes wrong between kids and one kid tells their version of the story it sounds right until you hear what the other kid’s version of the story is. I think this happens right now in our world. We hear one side of the story and we form an opinion, but we don’t wait to hear the other side of the story. Just because you have heard the first story doesn’t mean that it’s right.

I listened to Paul Harvey when I was young and he would always say, “Now you know the rest of the story.” We have to step back and hear the rest of the story. Wait until the other side has a chance to speak up. If we were all willing to be humble enough to admit that our opinions could be wrong, that we don’t know the whole story, we would have more peace, more understanding, and as believers, our testimony would have more light. People would be willing to listen to us more.

We can be people who are willing to examine ourselves, our motives, our words, and situations according to scripture. We can choose to be salt and light. I hope this is helpful to you. It is definitely helpful for me. Let me know your thoughts. I’d love to have a conversation (not an argument).

Thank you for your support.

“Helping you connect faith and life.”