Are We Truly Living the Gospel?

​"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." — Matthew 25:40

​Canada’s Mirror: Are We Truly Living the Gospel?

​As Canadians, we love to tell ourselves we are a compassionate society, but we need to have a very honest, very difficult conversation. We look at the chaos elsewhere and feel smug, yet right here at home, we are failing the test of Matthew 25:40 every single day. We claim a heritage of Christian values, but when we look at our streets, our shelters, and our policies, the "Christian" label is starting to feel like a hollow shell. If we are a nation that ignores the freezing homeless in our cities, the neglected on our indigenous reserves, and the struggling refugees at our gates, then we have no right to claim we are following Christ.

​There is a poisonous idea taking root—even here in the Great White North—that we only owe our "brethren" kindness. And people are using "brethren" to mean "people like us" or "people who believe what we believe." This is absolute garbage. Jesus didn’t die for a specific postal code or a specific denomination; He stood with the marginalized. When he spoke of the hungry, the sick, and the stranger, he wasn't checking their citizenship papers or their church membership. To suggest that our obligation to help is limited to "our own" is a betrayal of the Gospel. It is an idiotic, small-minded theology that serves our bank accounts more than it serves our God.

​The Failure of the "Kind" Canadian

​We are failing because we’ve replaced radical, biblical love with "politeness." Politeness lets you walk past a person sleeping in a snowbank without making eye contact. Biblical love demands you see Christ in them and act. We see people in our pews who will argue until they are blue in the face about "protecting Christian values" but will then turn around and vote against the very social safety nets that protect the orphans and the poor. You cannot "protect" a faith that you refuse to practice.

​To those who want to gatekeep mercy: your belief that only Christians deserve Christian help is a heresy of the heart. If you can’t see the "brethren" in the person with a different faith, a different background, or a different struggle, you are blind. We are watching the moral fabric of our country fray because we’ve traded the "least of these" for "the most of me."

​Be angry that our "Christian" identity is being used to justify exclusion. Be gentle with those the system has broken, but be fierce against the lie that says our love has limits. If Canada wants to be a nation that honors God, we have to stop worrying about our "status" and start worrying about our "servanthood." Christ is in the tent city, he’s in the food bank line, and he’s in the hospital waiting room. If you aren't there with Him, don't you dare claim to be one of His.