Torn

Part of me likes this photo, a lot.  I take it as a call to action for every person. That you don’t need to be a religious person to serve the needy; that charity and empathy for the poor are not owned by people who call themselves Christian.  Every single person, no matter what they believe- or don’t believe- about the Almighty and the Hereafter are not just important, but imperative to solving the human crisis of our time.  I believe with all my heart that the person who goes to meet their maker having never stepped foot inside a church, but spent their years being a genuinely decent human being and helping their fellow man, will be welcomed with more open arms than the person who calls themselves a follower of Christ but lived their life in the pursuit of their own glory. 

That said though, good deeds are not what get you into Heaven.  And here is where the part of me that hates this photo comes in.  To me, the photo makes the same mistake that is so often made by both Christians and atheists alike- that you earn your place in Heaven by what you do on earth.  This is incorrect.  Grace is a gift freely given.  Nothing any of us do or could ever hope to do will earn us a spot in Heaven and the Christian who answers the question, “Why are you feeding the poor?” with, “To get into Heaven” is sorely misguided.  Their answer should be, “Because I’m called to serve the least among us” or “Because Jesus himself fed the poor” or even just a pragmatic, “Because having starving people in my community is morally unacceptable to me and I choose to feed this man rather than let him starve.”  The list goes on and on of reasons why it’s both moral and practical to help those who cannot help themselves, but Ticket to Heaven is not on that list.

I also don’t like the underlying message that you cannot be both Christian and intelligent.  I like to think- even with the weirdo extremists and Creationists and whatever the heck nonsense is out there these days- that there are many of us who dispel that idea.  I can objectively say that feeding the poor is socially beneficial because a person whose basic needs are met is less likely to become ill, which makes them less likely to be admitted to an ER, where they won’t be able to pay the bill, so as a tax payer I eventually end up footing part of that cost.  Or that a person whose basic needs are met is less likely to commit a crime, making my own community safer if there are not destitute people in it.  Or that feeding a child makes them more able to focus in school, furthering his education and eventually (hopefully) making him a more beneficial member of society.  Public health, crime, education- there are many secular reasons to feed the poor that I can intelligently think of, so to imply that Christians only serve in the hopes of getting into Heaven is insulting. 

We serve because we want to, not because we have to.  I like to think of it in a parent/child way; would God stop loving us if we didn't serve? Of course not. Just like I wouldn't stop loving Eva if she didn't do something that I asked.  But am I glad when she does listen? Yes!  It's the same thing with God.  He doesn't love us less if we don't serve, but He is glad when we do.  The parent watching their two children fight doesn't stop loving them, but the parent who watches their older child help their younger sibling learn how to eat cereal or tie their shoe has their heart filled with joy at the loving interaction.  

So, the photo is correct, an intelligent person does not need the promise of Heaven to see the merit is good deeds.  But the intelligent Christian knows that the promise of Heaven has already been given to us with Jesus' death on the cross. We don't serve to earn brownie points, we serve to please a God who already loves us more than we can imagine and to make this world a better place.      

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.  For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love serve one another.

~Galatians 5:1,13