I have found that I have need to repent as of late. That's no real surprise in and of itself. It's the subject of the repentance that took me by surprise. Like others, I follow politics. Like others, I have opinions and passions about our country. Like others, I sometimes disagree with President Obama or Sara Palin. And like others, I sometimes say... Well, unkind things about them. And there's the problem. I'm not supposed to be like others.
In his book, Generous Justice, Timothy Keller writes:
"The Bible teaches that the sacredness of God has in some ways been imparted to humanity, so that every human life is sacred and every human being has dignity. When God put his image on us, we became beings of infinite, inestimable value."
He notes a couple examples of this from Scripture.
"And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man... for in the image of God has God made man." - Genesis 9:5-6
"...but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness." - James 3:8-9
It is part of our witness of the gospel that we affirm the value and the dignity of each person because they are made in the image of God. This is more than just good manners. This is worship. How can we say we honor God if we don't honor the image of God?
In the negative, we live in a culture that seems to enjoy tearing each other apart. It's one thing to disagree with someone and to voice that disagreement. Regardless of what our politically correct culture may say, discussion, debate, and disagreement are healthy and necessary if we are to live and work together. But it's a sign of the schizophrenic nature of our cultural wisdom that we insist on political correctness when it suits us and then we resort to name calling and the tearing down of people's reputation when they disagree with us.
God takes this seriously. We don't murder people because they are made in the image of God, and we don't (shouldn't) tear people down, make them fell insignificant, or call them names - again because they are made in the image of God. The world will pursue it's foolishness. We will be on the receiving end of this destructive foolishness because we follow Christ. But we need to take care that we never follow the world's example. When we do, the world sees the people of God abusing the image of God and even the unredeemed can sense something tragic is occurring.
On the positive side, if we bring love, acceptance, and dignity to others, we will be like a cold glass of water to one dying in the desert, we will be a bubble of peace in the battleground of clashing, insecure egos. We will be meeting people as Christ met us.
To love, accept, and bring dignity to others doesn't mean you agree with their error and their way of life. It is unloving to affirm those things that are destructive. But it does mean giving them your time and energy, not for what they can do for you or for their achievements, but because they are valuable in themselves because they are made in the image of God.
The first step begins with our tongue. You may not agree with President Obama or with Sara Palin (or Richard Dawkins, or Bill Maher, or...). That's fine. Debate and discuss the differences, but the moment you start tearing them down, make demeaning disrespectful remarks about them as people, refer to them in ways that try to rob them of dignity, then you are tearing down the image of God. James is shocked that the same tongue that can praise God can curse the image of God. We are not to follow our culture's lead. We are to be witnesses to the glory and grace of the God who met us in our sins, sacrificed himself for us before we even knew him, and gave us the gift of dignity, love, and salvation.
Being civil is God's idea, not ours.
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