Why should we take sides?
Why should we seek to see our party, our way of thinking about things, people like us, succeeding?
How easily does what we think of as seeking to stand up for God become seeking to stand up for ourselves against others who do not see themselves as serving any less faithfully than we ourselves are?
God has made it clear that he will prevail. He has shown that those who oppose him will fail.
So why take sides?
Our battle is not against flesh and blood.
3 comments:
Good post. I am a student in preparation for ordination in the United Methodist Church. It's easy to get caught up in all the debate and controversy over homosexual behavior.
I have gotten a lot more patience and peace by stepping back and realizing that the liberal sect of the church will not (and presently is not) survive in America's increasingly post-Christian culture.
This realization allows me to focus more on making disciples of Christ rather than getting caught up in another war. You're right, we are not fighting against flesh and blood.
I think we have to be careful about taking sides. We need to be kind and loving to our enemies as well as our neighbors. But God does tell us to love our neighbor, to aid the oppressed etc. He has used human instruments to do those things all through history. So sometimes we have to take sides with the abolitionists against the slave traders, with the persecuted against the racists, with the unborn and against those who would commit genocide against them. In doing so we need to remember the real enemy is spiritual, not the deceived humans of which we are also often enough a part. Naturally this is dangerous. But Jesus did not call us to safety. He calls us to adventure. I think that is part of what the parable of the talents really means.
I think you're right about the parable of the talents - we're meant to be risk-takers.
When God's side is clear, that's the side we should be on, though sometimes that position is complex. So, for example, we should be with the unborn and with the mothers who are being pushed into killing them.
My post was referring more to situations where the temptation is to be loyal to Christians like us and get into fights with other Christians who are less like us.
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