I was young, maybe 11. The world I had known was altered dramatically one day when I learned that a close friend’s parents were getting a divorce. I had never known anyone who had gotten a divorce and was immediately terrified at the prospect that such an event could even happen. “If it could happen to them, is my family at risk of the same fate?” I wondered.
It was difficult for my child’s heart and mind to process a reality so powerful it could tear a family apart. I felt frozen and unable to communicate with my friend whose family was living through this nightmare. With a great deal of concern, I sought assurance from my parents. As they gently confirmed their commitment to each other, my fears subsided and the shock and pain I felt about my friend’s crisis eased.
While COVID-19 has been traumatic for our world, and a contentious national election has set teeth on edge, it is the fracturing of Christ’s body that has surfaced the same perplexed and anxious feelings of my 11-year-old heart.
The expectation of God’s people is that we live in an evil world and that people outside the Kingdom will do and say the kinds of things that pagans do and say. This is life and should not surprise us. What has been disorienting is the clear sense that many Kingdom people have seemed to abandon our identity as a people who are “holy and set apart by God” (1 Pet. 2:9). How has this shown up among us?
Our lack of holiness has led to fighting in the manner of pagans. Perhaps we wear a different uniform, but the mud we sling in righteous indignation leaves the same stains. We have forgotten that for holy people, our battle is not against flesh and blood, and the weapons of our warfare are not stockpiles of ammo or the right people in office. Our armament is righteousness, truth, peace, faith, prayer, and life in God’s Spirit (Eph. 6:10-18). With these weapons, we stand dignified and courageous, living as holy people.
The weapons of our warfare are not stockpiles of ammo or the right people in office.
Our lack of holiness has laid bare a rebel spirit. From the authority of local church pastors to the leaders of our states and nation, many in God’s family have rejected the directives of leaders, openly defying their instructions. It is not that there is never a time for civil disobedience. But the cavalier and impulsive nature of much contemporary disobedience reveals a ruinous arrogance. In our current climate, I have not yet witnessed holy men and women, with deep respect and reverence, prayerfully refusing to comply with a particular instruction based solely and explicitly on God’s holy Word. All too often, we have forgotten our identity as holy people and protested angrily with raised fists and defiant glares. This is not the way of Jesus.
Our lack of holiness has blinded us to truth. It has been painful to watch friends and loved ones spend significant time traveling down tunnels of conspiracy and alternate realities. Fundamentally, these descending pathways take us to dark places and display a lack of faith and trust in the risen Jesus. Conspiracies can exist, but the people of God are not to be consumed by them. Our calling is to walk with Jesus, embracing his Kingdom and his ways of righteousness. We seek to live with moral integrity and faithfulness, building up those around us. Undo attention on various conspiracies diverts our focus from Jesus, feeds fear and anxiety, and embraces suspicion as a normative way of life. None of this ought to mark God’s holy people! We are his people, the sheep of his pasture, and he will watch over us. Let Jesus be central, and he will reveal the truth that needs to be revealed.
I, too, have not always responded well to the pressures of 2020. But as I have taken my fear for the church to the Father, I have been reminded that the gates of hell will not prevail against God’s holy people, his church. In this way, I am comforted and grateful to be part of his family.
So, let us move forward in boldness, letting go of fights and rebellion, and embracing instead the truth of Christ as holy people, set apart for God’s glory.
7 Responses
This is so good! Praying God will pierce the hearts of His people with conviction to desire and to do what is honorable in His sight.
Amen!! So good! Thank you!
Yes!!! While cultural and political realities have disappointed me this year, my deeper disappointment by far has been the fractured and bombastic atmosphere within the body of Christ. Christ is calling us to reflect his light so that “ the world will know that Jesus was sent by the Father.” Thanks to so many of you who have modeled this!
Yes! Wholeheartedly with you.
AMEN!
A much needed message for all of us. Thanks.
Agree completely – Christians seem to be falling prey to near-sightedness, when our grateful focus should be on the future detailed in scripture. God bless you this holiday season.