Crumbs from Heaven: A Reason to Hold On

I remember back in 2020 when the elections were happening, tensions from where I stood politically ran high. I wanted to simply allow my political opponents to suffer the consequences of their choices. And, in some cases where people could argue that might be justified.

My friend David said to me, "We need each other."

We need each other, conservative and liberals, because in some ways when there is a disagreement of convictions, our dialogue is how we hold those convictions we hold dear, accountable. It’s also how we hold ourselves accountable. Accountable to logic and truth, accountable to how we treat others, and accountable to ourselves. Continuing that dialogue, if done respectfully, can create growth and that growth is how we become more understanding and loving as people.

Let me just say this, I am no political expert nor even an enthusiast because I’ve seen the harm it can cause.  I’ve seen the radicalization that can happen when in hot pursuit of some kind of political superiority that leaves little room to allow people to tell their personal stories.

Many of us are processing the death of Charlie Kirk. What’s ironic is that though I am a Conservative Christian, I didn’t follow Charlie Kirk much. Yet, all the more it has been a challenge to process it. The challenge of processing it isn’t just that an American Citizen who is a father was killed in front of the eyes of many young college students. It’s the political commentary that’s being provided by people who would do well to simply be quiet and let people, especially those who believe that all life is precious, mourn the death of a fellow human being.

It has been truly discouraging and emotionally taxing to see people celebrate the death of Charlie Kirk and mock him. People who have radicalized so hard they can’t even see the value of human life outside of their views. Even more so on public record on Youtube and on X(Twitter), that even Former President Obama and Senator Bernie Sanders, both people that I disagree with politically, have called Charlie Kirk’s death for what it is, political violence. Can we not rise above the radicalization to simply show love and kindness to those who are hurting though they are different? I celebrate the common ground I share with Obama and Bernie! 

Despite the discouragement I see online, I want to share another quote from my  friend David. David, from our earlier years as friends, said, "Perspective is the one thing you can't give yourself." No matter how smart we are, we all have our blind spots. Therefore, our relationships to each other, even when we disagree on heated topics, are worth far more than the glory of winning a debate because we need each other to be better people! 

How interesting if not motivating to strive for peace, is it  when we see the death of a former President, we see both parties come together to mourn the passing of a leader who led the United States as a whole. Barack Obama can be seen in the crowd as George Bush Jr. gives the eulogy over his father a few years back.

It’s true that perspectives will clash because of the values in them and how they are ordered in a person’s life. Let’s say that even if our perspectives are built on truth, we still face challenges. Even in our perspectives of holding onto the truth, even the truth can have its nuances. Its subtle differences that we weren’t fully aware of. Such as, again, the truth that all life is precious and therefore to take a life is wrong. 

However, the challenge is when a murderer, someone who outside of legal law takes a life, refuses to stop killing. Do we execute them or not? This is a nuance of the earlier moral truth and how we pursue action on this requires dialogue, especially dialogue from God. Dialogue and debate can help us fully explore these nuances, these subtle differences of truth. Even if that debate has an emotionally volatile and bitter ending. 

God’s grace to me in my life as an example has been that my closest friends are friends that I do have disagreement with in certain topics. Some of my closest friends are those who were raised in a tradition of faith that is different from mine. They being Assemblies of God, and I grew up Lutheran and Southern Baptist. In the timeline of our friendship, we waited 2 to 3 years to talk about our differences in beliefs, and despite our debates. I consider them my deepest friends, we are more committed to loving each other than having the glory of winning a debate. Our love, empowered and gifted by God, stood the test of our debates and kept us together.

I strongly acknowledge that emotions can run high during a debate. I've disagreed with my Assemblies of God friends over the topic of whether women can be pastors or not. I’m a certified hot-head myself when it comes to debating topics I hold dear. However; I forget that I don't always need to agree with the person I’m speaking to at the moment. I do need to see their humanity.

I or we need to see the humanity in people when we converse with them, because should the roles have been reversed, our hope is that they would do the same to us. We need to see that every human craves security, acceptance, freedom, love, hope, and perhaps the truth at times. We need to see how people have come to hold their beliefs and why. We need to respectfully listen to where they are coming from. Because if we can’t meet people where they are at, we leave them alone in beliefs that could in actuality be hurting them in their isolation. We must rise above the radicalization that is on social media, and love others even when they want to hurt us for being different.

I can't say I have lived up to this idealized view of handling conflict in my relationships. I know in my zeal I have scarred people who may never respect me again, and that is my sin.Yet, I point to what God does, he demonstrates kindness to lead people to change. 

Romans 2:4

      Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

I’ll end this spontaneous blog with a short story and question. I remember being very angry with my mother. My mother and I would both tell you that we rarely ever see eye to eye on anything. I would say there has been a few times we have yelled and screamed at each other. I remember even one time I was so angry at her, I towered over her demonstrating my height over her. 

One day, as I was boiling over with anger perhaps over something that happened between my mom and I or it was some resentment that had been building over me from the times I had lived with her in Minnesota. It was perhaps February 3rd and it was approaching later in the day perhaps 7PM or 8PM. It was dark. I remember the door opening and there was a family friend by the name of Tong Pha, he had shown up at our house. Little did I know, he was there to pick up my brother James to take him to a Brazilian Steak house. But, what surprised me the most was that he spontaneously brought me too. 

We went to the Brazilian Steakhouse and it was a feast. It also wasn’t even my birthday. All kinds of meats to eat and the really memorable item was a roasted Pineapple that would clean the palate, yet was so delicious to eat on its own. Yet, as the night was ending and Tong Pha was dropping me and my brother off. I began to cry even now as I write this paragraph, I cry. I cry because I felt God say to me, in the midst of all my anger towards my mother,

“Ronald, you will eat of the feast of heaven one day. Will you not share even just a few scraps of the love from that table to her?” 

Therefore, I say, “Dear Christian, you will eat from the feast of heaven in the presence of God. Will you not share even just a few scraps of the love from that table to anyone who asks or needs it?”

Footnotes:

1.  Legacy Standard Bible (Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022), Ro 2:4.