The Virtue Weapon: The Wave Hereafter — Beware of Leaven  

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

When I heard someone call the midterm election a tsunami, I thought about the Itsy Bitsy Spider. You know the one. Down comes the rain and washes him out. Usually, that’s about all I need to get a devotion started. This time, because of the seriousness of the moment, I stepped away from nursery rhymes, and my mind went to bees.

Honeybees, to be exact. I know. Give me a minute.

When I visited Chile in 2016, I spent time with Dwight and Barbara Bolick, who were serving there as International Ministries missionaries. We talked about life after the 2010 tsunami. I remember how proud Dwight was when the conversation turned to bees and honey. Beneath all the talk of recovery was a question families had to answer. How will we start and live again? Beekeeping was one way International Ministries worked alongside people as they rebuilt their livelihoods. One of my traveling companions called it “Well-Beeing.” That one stuck.

So here we are after an election some folks are calling a tsunami. Some are relieved. Others are angry. Most are praying like never before. Now what?

Laws matter, and so does what our elected leaders do with the authority we’ve entrusted to them. However, come Sunday morning, I may be sitting in the same pew as somebody who voted differently. What have we been teaching each other all week about how to treat the person beside us?

I catch myself doing this. I hear somebody on the other side speak with contempt about people I love, and I recognize it immediately. Then somebody on my side does the same thing, and suddenly it sounds like boldness. I might even pass it along, even through ads if I’m the one running for office.

In Matthew 16, Jesus tells his disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They think he’s talking about bread. Matthew explains that Jesus is warning them about what those leaders teach. In Luke 12, Jesus calls the leaven of the Pharisees hypocrisy. I can see how it spreads. I laugh at one cruel joke, pass along another, and before long, somebody in my own church has learned from me that contempt is fine as long as we aim it at the right or bad people.

These past few days, I’ve spent a lot of time beside Sherrie, holding her hand as she nears her last breath here on earth. It’s been a rough go. I keep coming back to what Jesus said to Martha after her brother died. “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). I’ve preached those words. Sitting beside the woman I love, I’m counting on them.

Sherrie is a good woman. I could spend the rest of this devotion telling you why. Here’s what gives me hope as I hold her hand: she is already alive in Christ. The life he gave her is the life she’ll carry through what I’ve come to think of as the womb of time and into the fullness of God’s Kingdom. However, understand that Sherrie is not where she is because she is a “good person”; she is here in God’s Kingdom because, as a young adult, she chose an unwavering commitment to the highest good of God’s Love. There, she received TRUE LOVE and truly became ALIVE and, from there, through Christ, cultivated a good character that expressed a tsunami of GOOD actions (Hello, the book of Acts) wherever she went — even to the place where she lies today. My point…      

God (Jesus) did not come to earth to make a bunch of bad people good; he came to make dead people alive.

I believe losing sight of this helps explain why we’re so divided in the faith and why we see the hypocrisy (leaven) of our day. When I treat the gospel as a way to make bad people good or behave, I get busy deciding who the bad people are. And wouldn’t you know it? I always find a reason to leave myself off the list. Then Paul reminds me where I started: Like Sherrie, I was dead in my sins, but God, rich in mercy, made me alive with Christ. This is anchored in God’s Love as understood in Genesis 1 & 2 and the last two chapters of Revelation, rather than in the midst of the Bible, where the good and bad are duking it out. Next come the good works, or character, of Christ (Ephesians 2:4–10).

And here you thought we’d just been having fun with the tidal waves of nursery rhymes this year. Little Bo-Peep helped us ask better questions. Little Miss Muffet helped us consider how it feels when somebody barges into our world. The Little Red Hen asked who was willing to get to work. I may need all three lessons in one conversation. Ask a better question. Listen to the answer. Then roll up my sleeves if I can do something with it, but first only with God’s design of ALIVE in place.

That’s how virtue takes root in our character. As we listen to Jesus (yes, even through nursery rhymes), learn from him, lovingly practice what he teaches, and fight or live as he did, these virtues begin to work together. They shape our character with a heart of ETERNAL LOVE that goes beyond even “Agape” love. 

Remember, God created it, so He is above it; that’s TRUE LOVE we can trust! 

When we practice these virtues together, they shape what our children, churches, and communities come to expect from one another. I believe that’s one way a nation’s character changes: people see what we mean when we say, “In God We Trust.” It’s committing to God’s Love first and training in the Son’s Character. What follows? Good behavior that expresses God’s Fruit. It works for one and the many, including a whole nation or even the world. This is how it works, no matter what! 

My answer to “Now What?” 

Let’s be people who help raise the dead and make them fully alive, no matter which side they’re on. Remember, Christianity is about becoming fully human through Christ rather than passing laws, as they did in the Old Testament to make a bunch of bad people good and/or more religious. 

I think of Dwight and those bees back in Chile. Somebody cared enough to ask how a neighbor would make a living and then helped them get started. So, after the election, here’s a question worth asking. What good can I do alongside somebody who sees things differently than I do? 

My suggestion: love, live, and fight like Jesus. Or, in other words, execute The Art of War – Jesus style, and use the virtue weapon of Christ in the wave hereafter. 

Today, the good within my reach begins with Sherrie. I can take her hand and say what I’ve wanted her to know all along – You are loved. You are safe. I am right here. What’s within your reach?

As always, God is here. God is able. God is good.

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but we support the author’s constitutional right to express those opinions.