For years one of the core values of my church was “People Matter to God and People Matter to Us.” That tenet is still core in Scripture and to The Church. All human life has intrinsic value because people are created by God and people are made in the image of God, as earthly copies of Him. All people matter!
Few Americans condone police brutality, violent riots and destruction of property. Most of us grieve over inner city poverty, crime and substandard schools. No one applauds fractured families and unparented children. There is also the plight of the rural poor and their lack of opportunity as well.
Despite abundant concern, few new solutions seem to be emerging. Mostly we hear about providing more of what has already been unsuccessful. More regulation and updated policy are not likely to stop looters, end rampages, cease dishonesty or bias within government or prejudice in law enforcement. These problems matter – they are matters of the heart.
Unless one commits his or her heart to something other than oneself, attitudes and actions of selfishness, survival, mistrust and prejudice will prevail. My pastor used to joke about the Hebrew National motto that touted: we answer to a higher authority. Submitting oneself to God’s ways, His authority, is the only solution to our hearts that tolerate insensitivity, partiality, defamation, destruction, and even murder? (see Matthew 5:21 -22).
It says in a New Testament book called James, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. Submit yourselves, then, to God.” (James 4: 6-7) Actually, I recommend reading the entire chapter 4 of James. It begins with “What causes fights and quarrels among you?” and ends with, “Who are you to judge your neighbor?” Once again, God’s Word is spot on!
Postscript – We may wonder if this is a matter to us or an issue for others? Scriptures point out our need to consider. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). King David the prolific Psalmist asked, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me,” (Psalm 139: 23-24a).
