2017 Belmont University Lenten Devotional GuideSample

One of the most difficult lessons I’ve had to learn over the course of my life is that sometimes, even those who identify as people of God can make mistakes and do something terribly wrong despite good intentions. Saul is an extreme example, a man who persecuted and killed Christians in the name of his religious beliefs, operating as man who likely saw himself as a great reformer of God called by the high priest for whom he worked. And yet, even commissioned by a priest, Saul was not doing right by God at all.

In each of these passages there is an emphasis on righteousness, a call to be morally sound in action. For many years of my life, I believed “good intentions” and “righteousness” to be synonymous. But every day, people discriminate against and oppress other human beings for their identities, who they love, their religion, their lack of rack of religion, all with good intentions stemming from what they believe to be right. And at the end of the day, oppressing any human being is not morally sound, discrimination for any reason never righteous. Good intentions do not guarantee righteousness, and they don’t matter at the end of the day when wrongdoing takes place.

As someone who grew up around many different interpretations of religion, I have made this mistake, oppressing others simply because they did not believe in my God or because they had been born with a different identity than those I traditionally knew. I had good intentions, but that does not change the fact I hurt people, and acted without righteousness. It was actually during Lent, one of the best times to answer God’s call to reflection, that I was finally able to see the error of my ways and realize that I wasn’t doing what God would do in my place. God is a God that advocates for all, including if not especially the oppressed (as mentioned in our psalm).God loves all equally and could never discriminate against those creations whom He loves. And though God didn’t blind me and knock me off a horse to see my mistakes like He did Saul, He did find His way into my thoughts during those reflections and invite me to think simply about if at the end of the day, my actions were righteous. And that, combined with God’s great forgiveness and mercy, changed my life.

I invite each of you during this time to reflect in the same way, to examine your actions simply in the lens of righteousness. And, if you aren’t exactly doing the right thing by God as I unfortunately was doing several years ago, take comfort in the message from this passage. That God truly accepts all righteous hearts, regardless of what the bearers of those hearts may have done in the past. And He will show you the righteous way to love if you only open up your heart. Pray, friends, that He opens up all our hearts.

HOPE GIPSON
Junior
Audio Engineering/Social Entrepreneurship Major