A Time to Build

I wasn't planning on blogging on the same thing I'm sure half of the politically-minded bloggers are talking about today, but this link was sent to our whole subcommittee by a coworker and found some of the cartoonists insights to be interesting and - dare I say it? - almost bipartisan. Personally, I don't feel one way or the other about Dan Rather; he was probably just a guy thinking he was doing the right thing, except when he was forging papers. As a former journalist I guess I should be more incensed against him distorting "the truth," and if he was complicit in all that, he has his conscience to deal with for the rest of eternity. But I think it's hardly becoming to the conservative community to rejoice over his downfall.
But that's something I'm noticing - a lot of conservatives seem to get a kick out of whatever is in a state of demise or may soon become that way. We're a bunch of vultures. The conservative wing is glad when something bad happens to the moderates (guilty), the moderates are elated when the far right is tempered. And it happens at PHC on an almost constant basis. There's the camp that feels PHC has ruined their lives, and their retribution comes in the form of hoping that the school collapses under its own weight. I won't even touch the practical lack of logic (congratulations, your degree means nothing), but from even an ideological right-and-wrong stand point, if we say we're believers, why don't we start acting like the One in Whom we believe?
Christianity isn't about condemning everything around us that we've decided is bad. It's about acting as Jesus would, and that isn't saying "OH! Those tax collectors! They're horrible people, and you know, the Roman constitution - wait, sorry, don't have one of those - but the Romans shouldn't even be collecting taxes, you know, it is not really consistent with their long-term goals. And if they're not consistent, then they're obviously wrong." Surprise - policy wasn't the point. Taxation or not taxation wasn't the point. The point was, love God first, and from that will come the outpouring of desire to honor the king, and through your obedience you will be building the kingdom.
We're called to tear down strongholds, yes. But if we focus so much on tearing down, we're going to realize one day that we're standing on rubble scattered on top of a blueprint that God tried to show us, but we were too busy avenging ourselves to realize He had something better for us to do.
May God show us mercy by giving us glimpses of His perspective while there is yet time to build.