I’m always surprised how surprised Christians can be when “the world” acts like, well, the world. We complain as though everyone attended the same Bible study and agreed to bring the casserole.
Let me ask you, Would you expect an Eagles fan to cheer for that Dallas team?
Then why are we so shocked when someone who doesn’t follow Jesus doesn’t share our convictions? And why are we sometimes more overly interested in correcting their behavior than sharing the grace that keeps changing ours?
Psalm 107 begins with gratitude for God's goodness. God’s steadfast love endures forever. Then comes the charge: “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”
Say what, exactly? Well, tell how God found us.
The psalm remembers people wandering in the wilderness, hungry, thirsty, with no place to call home. They cried out, and God delivered them. God led them toward a place where they could settle.
That’s the story we’ve been given to tell. We know something about being lost and what it means to need mercy. We have received forgiveness we couldn’t make up and life we couldn’t earn.
Sometimes, I wonder if we've forgotten the wilderness.
We can pinpoint everything wrong with the world while barely mentioning what God has done in our lives.
Imagine what might happen if the people around us heard more gratitude in our voices. If our words made God’s goodness easier to see. If our hunger for righteousness stirred compassion before it triggered a lecture.
To be sure, this does not exempt us from speaking truth to power, or against what harms people. That's different.
But let's remember that we are redeemed. We have a story.
When we “say so,” let's let the world hear of the God who came looking for us in the wilderness.
Stay blessed...john
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