Liberals

I did not come to abolish the Law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).

You can be both a liberal and a Christian. A liberal is someone who believes that there is always room for improvement. Liberals value fresh ideas. They are always looking for ways to improve the quality of life; they look at how the old ways are coming up short and suggest changes to make our time here on earth better for everyone. Liberals hope that tomorrow can be made better than today.

Political liberals see our society in terms of process. Things are better than they used to be, but we still have a long way to go before things will be as good as they could be; this means that laws must be constantly reviewed and updated. Religious liberals fear that the church is not reaching out to unbelievers as effectively as it could; they believe that God has something powerful to say to our modern world, and the church must be creative in finding ways to touch lives with the message of Christ.

Liberals are generally supportive of change; they fear that inflexibility leads to stagnation and atrophy. Liberals find our chaotic modern world to be an exciting place, full of new ways to introduce people to the Savior who died to give them eternal life.

Liberals can often be in the right. Scripture tells us that we are all sinners and that nothing we do is up to snuff from God’s perspective; there is always room for improvement in anything done by humans. In addition, the Bible shows us the importance of being flexible in how we reach out to others; Paul tells us that he adjusted his style of ministry depending on who he was talking to.

And yet, liberals can also be wrong. Many have looked at Jesus’ ministry and concluded that He was a revolutionary, someone who left the past behind as He tried to establish a new social order. Yet Jesus said plainly that He had not come to abolish the law, but rather to fulfill it. The Bible urges us to change as we live life, abandoning what is sinful and embracing what is good; however, it is not up to us to decide what should be changed. We are called to humbly submit ourselves to the Spirit’s leadership and let Him lead us to the bright shining future that God has laid out. We who are liberal in today’s world must be careful to not let our enthusiasm for improvement result in foolishly heading in a different direction than the way God is leading.