My reading from my “ancient wells” list has me in Colossians 3 currently. I am thinking of the culture of heaven. I am dwelling on the character of the Kingdom.
There are some thoughts dwelling in this passage in light of the decision from the Supreme Court yesterday to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Paul describes the culture of heaven in this way:
Colossians 3:12–14 (NIV)
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Completely different from the world. Completely different from the culture of Rome in Paul’s day, to be sure.
You know what isn’t mentioned? “Winning.” And especially, “win at all costs.” And this is part of my heartbreak with the Supreme Court decision yesterday. There will be Christians who have “fought” for the overturn of Roe vs. Wade for decades at least thinking: “Well, it was worth electing Donald Trump for this.”
We have, as conservative American Christians, risked the characteristics of heaven’s culture Paul gives in Colossians for a WIN. That is deeply disturbing. I am pro-life… but it’s not about “winning” for me. It is about Kingdom flourishing. It is about the attributes listed in the verses above.
We must bring all of that to our context and moving forward do more for human flourishing and not just rejoice because we FINALLY got the “right justices” to give us the “right decision” so we can… win.
Apprentice 2 Jesus 