State of the Union

The state of the union is what you make it. It is what you want it to be.

Your union with the people who live in this country and share this planet with you is your choice.

If you don’t have this kind of power in you, how could God make love for foreigners and strangers the “must do” for people who wanted to claim him as their God? See Deuteronomy 10.14-22.

If you don’t have this kind of power in you, how could Jesus Christ make love for enemies the “must do” for people who want to be his apprentices and students? See Gospel of Matthew 5.43-48.

And it’s not the kind of love that stirs up some fleeting feeling while you sit in a prayer group at church.

No, the kind of love that God ordered up for enemies, foreigners, and strangers is active love, proactive love. It’s the kind of love that goes looking for an enemy to embrace. It’s the kind of love that goes looking for a foreigner to welcome. It’s the kind of love that goes looking for a stranger to befriend. It is the kind of love that most people keep back for their best friends and family. It is choosing to always look for good things to do for enemies, foreigners, and strangers. It is choosing to always want good things for people who may want bad things for us!

This is a personal choice. And if you make the personal choice to believe in a God who loves you of all people, then that God says you must make the choice to love all people.

Therefore, the state of the union is what you choose to make it.

Politicians and those who gain money and power from working with them want you to believe the opposite of this. When you stop believing in your power to choose the state of the union, you will stop doing the things that make a more perfect union.

The power comes from your Maker. The union comes from choosing to use that power to love enemies, foreigners, and strangers.

The choice is yours. The state of the union is up to you.