 I once saw a picture on twitter that had a bar graph showing several unlabeled categories of differing heights. The label at the bottom read “Sin in our eyes.” Beneath was a picture of that chart as if you were looking down on it and couldn’t tell how high or how low each category. The label read “Sin from God’s perspective.” It was creative. It was thought provoking. It was encouraging. It was wrong.
Perhaps you have heard a well-intentioned believer say, “All sin is the same in God’s eyes.” Perhaps you have been brought up believing that. Perhaps you believe that now. But as with every spiritual sounding mantra that isn’t actually a verse, we must ask if it lines up with what Scripture teaches. A careful study of the Bible will show us that, contrary to what many believe, not all sin is the same in God’s eyes. And rather than being a discouragement, the truth ends up being more helpful, encouraging, and fair than we might at first realize.
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 Alright, I’ll shoot straight with you. You are probably not going to read anything in this post that you didn’t know before you began (hence the title). I’m not going to pull up some obscure fact about Christmas or provide some incredible detail that you’ve never heard before. In fact, what I will be sharing are actually just the basic facts of the holiday. But before you complain that this is clickbait, I hope by the end of this article that you see how the truths I’m about to cover are shocking, whether you currently view them that way or not. You see, what we celebrate every Christmas should shock every one of us; yet, far too often we get so used to hearing it over and over that we find dull what we should find riveting, we gloss over that which should amaze us and ignore that which should captivate us. So here are three shocking Christmas truths (that you probably already know):
 We find ourselves embroiled in that time of year where everyone is talking about politics and America. And that brings up the question that is being asked more and more frequently: “Does God care about America?” And perhaps more to the point: “Should we as Christians?” Now, if you are over 35 years old, perhaps that question strikes you as odd if not downright bizarre. Chances are if you are a millennial, it’s a question you’ve heard your peers discuss and perhaps have even wondered yourself. I know I have. Let me explain.
In recent years, there has been a healthy emphasis on the supremacy of God’s kingdom over all others, even America. Theologians and Christian leaders have made the needed distinction that God’s plan doesn’t rise or fall on America. As we see in the book of Daniel, God’s purposes march on through time, unabated and undeterred by the rising and toppling of the kingdoms of the earth. The answer for America, we are rightly reminded, is Jesus. Our hope is in our Creator and His coming kingdom, not anything on earth. We are citizens of heaven and are strangers and pilgrims on this earth. But while all of this is true, and while some of it may have been forgotten with certain well-meaning, mistaken Christians in a tidal wave of overzealous patriotism, we are still left with our opening questions, “Does God care about America?” “Should we as Christians?” As always, we must ask the question “What does God’s Word say?” Does God share either a lack of concern for America, or are there hints that our nation might matter to Him? While the word “America” does not show up in Scripture, we do find God’s attitudes for the “nations.” What does the Bible teach us about God’s view of nations? Not just Israel, but the nations surrounding her? |
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