C. S. Lewis once said something to the effect that we should read old books because the mistakes that the authors in a different age were blind to would be obvious and the nuggets of gold would shine brighter.
There are some serious errors that have been made in the past. Let us not overlook them. Many times the label conservative has been a cover for bigoted ideas or hatefulness but it is also true that certain philosophies of life such as socialism and pure Democracy have inherent fatal flaws not in purpose but in human nature.
The young have seen our serious errors, the old have seen our fatal flaws. The left has decried some social evils while the right has opposed moral ones. And we have turned a deaf ear to one another.
But as a Christian, I am called to strive for the advancement and care of the destitute and stranger-out if my own pocket and on my own sweat. That is not "liberalism" and is is certainly not "conservative". I am called to love truth, justice and my enemy, so that my reaction to sinners is both clear in its ethics, and generous in its compassion.
Folks we live in a day when only the gospel can bridge the gap between those who see injustice and those who see inequity. And only the gospel can allow those who seek sanctification to humbly serve those who live in iniquity.
It begins by loving our God who is holy and it ends by serving our neighbor who is not. It means we need to take personal responsibility for our neighbor's needs, that we must care for the widow and the orphan and the slave and caution the rich man that he be rich in good works. While at the same time living out marriages that reflect Christ, no matter how others define it. It means we must uphold the authority of government while caring for the stranger and the alien among us. It means we must give our own money to nurse and care for our enemies, and honor those who stand against evil.
And only the Gospel is big enough to fit that task. Only the Gospel calls the most devoute hypocrites and the most sinful to repentance. Only the gospel does justice for the oppressed while confronting their sin and condems the rich only for their hardness of heart.
Only the Gospel does not condemn, because we are condemned already, and offers redemption strictly to the acknowledged slave of sin. Only the Gospel shine a light by which blind men can see.
And once those truths sink a little deeper perhaps then we can finally acknowledge that only the Gospel can save is now.
