Today’s question: Why can’t wall all just get along?

Rodney King asked that question after he was beaten bloody. It is the question for the ages. There is a Christian Doctrine for this, and it’s one that has a lot of baggage and it has been misused over the years. It’s one I hesitate to mention or preach on much, but it’s the doctrine of sin.

Sin is missing the mark. Sin is not doing what you want, but doing the thing you hate (Romans 7:15).

Paul writes a lot about sin in his letter to the Romans. He juxtaposes Adam and Christ in Romans 5. Adam did the opposite of what God wanted. Christ erased that. Adam’s disobedience vs Jesus’ obedience to God’s plan. It’s hard to get around, but if God is for a spirit of generosity, why are we so stingy?

Khaled Hosseini states in the book The Kite Runner that “There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft… When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness.”

That quote always stuck with me. Christ’s way was opposite. Christ gave away instead of taking. Gave live instead of taking life. We can’t get along because we only see loss. We only sense what we’re losing and never what we’re gaining.

In the Exodus story, the Israelites in the wilderness only see what they lost: constant food and their routine, as brutal as it was. They can’t see what they’ve gained: freedom from slavery. It’s a very human thing to fear change and only see what is being taken and not added to our lives.

We can’t get along when all we see is scarcity. We can’t get along when we feel that another’s success is taking something away from us. The disciples thought like this when they saw “an outsider” healing people in Jesus name. They act like this is stealing. Jesus is generous when we are stingy. “Do not stop him, for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.” (Mark 9:38-40)

May we live the same. May we go the extra mile and even pray for our enemies and do good to those who harm us.