This term “big tent” often comes up in conversation when we are talking about political parties. This party, or that party has a big tent…or it doesn’t have a big tent; which is meant to mean that a particular party is inclusive in its organizational structure, or that the party is not welcoming to particular groups. Depending on your political leanings, the other side’s “tent” appeals to all groups; or maybe various groups go unrepresented.
What got me to thinking about God having a big tent; was when I was reading about the ACLU group bringing litigation upon communities to remove any form of public display of a particular religious affiliation. This could be in the form of a Nativity scene on the town square, or a cross removed from a city’s governmental shield. Cash strapped communities were just complying to the threat of a lawsuit, rather than spend countless thousands of taxpayer dollars trying to defend themselves.
At first, I got really angry. I was thinking, “Why do people want to take God out of our lives?” However, the longer I thought about it, the more I came to realize their actions had no impact on my faith. I was free to believe or not to believe…regardless of anyone else. It’s a choice we all make, to be faithful to God, or to be faithless. No one can remove God from our hearts, but us.
We are coming up to the second most important Christian holiday. For those of us who are Christian, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. My oldest son, Steven, recently married a Jewish woman, and he converted to Judaism. His conversion has caused me to expand my vision of faith. Note, I said MY vision of faith…not God’s. The fact that Christmas is important to me; does not mean that it has to be important to you. And just as important, whatever faith you are and whatever holidays you celebrate; does not need to impact me.
As Americans, reading the above we might tend to think this has something to do with our religious freedom-but it goes way beyond that. Our faith is a gift from God. Since the beginning of time, no man or country has had the ability to grant us faith. It comes directly from our creator. We are free to accept it, or refuse it. This gift is available to everyone who has ever drawn a breath, no matter where they reside.
So, if we believe that someone created us…then He created EVERYONE…NOT JUST ME. As His creation, He offered salvation to EVERYONE…NOT JUST ME. And this is where the big tent comes into play. If God created EVERYONE; and EVERYONE has an equal opportunity for salvation…then we all are invited to come into His tent, provided we come to Him with a clean spirit.
Now comes the tricky part, who determines who has a clean spirit? Throughout time, we have had plenty of mortals step forward to speak in behalf of God, and say who can’t enter God’s tent. Normally, when that happens; the results haven’t been good.
Logically, if God created the world, and he created us…isn’t it His call who enters His tent…or kingdom? There is no need for us humans to be concerned about how anyone else worships God. On judgment day, each of us will be on our own. There won’t be a jury of our peers to judge us…it will be just God. And if we are lucky enough to make it into heaven, we won’t be asked to sit in judgment of others.
So, my beautiful Nativity scene is up in my home, and there won’t be anyone knocking on my door telling me to take it down. Conversely, I won’t be knocking on anyone’s door asking them to put one up! I intend to have a wonderful Christmas. How you choose to worship God is strictly between you and God. In summation, I guess it is not important how we find our way to God, it’s that we seek Him out in the first place.
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