Have you ever watched a man throw a woman around? It feels like a violation. It moves me in my core. Outside a grocery store I watched a young man block his girlfriend from walking away from him. Though my children were in the car, I ejected myself from the drivers seat and confronted the skinny little man. It wasn’t my finest moment, but I was compelled to act because he was violating her and he was violating me. He was violating God. I bristle when a woman is coerced by the strength of a man. I think it works against the design of God and reintroduces the effects of a curse that Jesus broke for all believers.
In studying baptism this month I ran across this scripture: for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. {Galatians 3:27-29}. A central concept to being unified with Christ, baptized into Christ, clothed with Christ is that we are heirs. As heirs we are powerful people partnering with God to establish His Kingdom on earth. Whether your background denounces this idea or your circumstances contradict this idea, the truth remains the truth. We are powerful people because Christ has all authority. This includes the women. It includes those without the education, skills or resources to break out of poverty. It includes all believers. What will we do with such power? The reference to Abraham holds a key.
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
You, powerful person, will live as a blessing. And as you live to bless your community be willing to confront violators. As the prophet Micah said, act justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Perhaps with more wisdom than I did outside the grocery store, take action. Don’t make being a blessing a passive position. Bring it with you to invite God’s will, His Kingdom, to the situations in your life. Bring it with you to the circumstances around your life. Invade dark places with blessing. We are the people of resurrection power. Bring it! The world is waiting to be blessed through you.
-Paul
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