I should have been at the protests

I should have been at the protests across college campuses earlier this month. When I was their age, I maligned George W. Bush for his policies in Afghanistan and in Iraq. I listened to Rage Against the Machine, and worshipped their socialist guitarist Tom Morello. I had my copy of A People’s History, of the United States, and saw Howard Zinn speak with Danny Glover. I relished the fact that my friend told me I looked like a young Noam Chomsky. I was part of the drug scene, thinking that I could reach some purely artistic state. I protested global warming. I was in a pro-LGBT group, and I went to a Pride parade. In short, I was deceived.

Now, when I say I was deceived, I mean it. I was deceived into thinking that I, that we—all mankind–can do things our way, and expect love, peace, and happiness to come from it. But God showed me otherwise. He showed me that if I did things His way, he would give me love, peace, and contentment. He showed me that I was separated from him by my sin and that if I confess his Son Jesus as Lord and believed in my heart that he raised him from the dead, he would save me. And he did save! But this is not the only thing. He showed me that he and he alone exercises true justice and more than that–he delights in it. He says it himself in his Word! God showed me the way, the truth, the life. So why am I not at the protests? I am not there because God saved me and showed me his way.

But I should have been there. There is a whole generation of people just like I used to be. They are anxious to see justice, and they are anxious to make things right. They want to end what they think is injustice. They are anxious for peace, love, and contentment. They are deceived, and they are looking in the wrong places. But how will they know unless the people who are like me now go and tell them? Well, it seems like people like me now are more concerned with protestors’ ideology than with their souls. We are more concerned with the property damage than with the damage done to them by the same deception that damaged me and is damaging you if you haven’t let the truth of Jesus in your life. We are more concerned with the way we want this country to reform and get on track than with the heart of Our Lord, that all might repent and
believe. So, yes I should be at the protest. The protest that is in my fellow man’s heart who does not know the Lord who exercises righteousness, lovingkindness, and justice. I should be testifying of who the Lord truly is. You should too.

Matthew lives in Northern Virginia. He is a teacher by trade and loves to study the Scriptures and the history of the church. His wife Marina and he fellowship at Nokesville Bible Chapel.