For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
- Ephesians 6:12
I read a book, Blue Like Jazz, recently where the author, Donald Miller, postulated that the idea of metaphor within Christianity, especially the metaphor where we are called like soldiers to a war, hymns such as Onward Christian Soldier, and other fighting, battle and war phrasing has caused us to treat those who aren't Christians in an unloving manner.He advocates choosing better metaphor to describe what Christ has called us to do and how we are to interact with others.
I see where Miller is coming from and even agreed with what his position at the time I read the book. I still agree that if the battle, the solider under God's command idea is used as metaphor to direct, guide or describe in any way the way we treat or interact with anyone it is seriously messed up. It is wrong. It will indeed cause problems with people, drive those we were called to serve and help away and turn them into our enemies, and if we walk in this mentality it makes it impossible to live as Jesus commanded. We are called to love, even our enemies, to treat those we encounter as neighbors whom we are to love and serve, we are called to lay down our life for others as He did.
So I am with Miller when he says the church has no business treating sinners like they're our enemies or acting like we are at war with people. Bad metaphor. But another problem with this idea is the idea that it is a metaphor at all. See, we, as believers, have far too often turned our weapons on our fellow humans because we have gotten into the wrong battle mentality. And yet we have also neglected to remember that we are indeed called to war. It's not a metaphor. It's real.
Only we are not supposed to be fighting people. At all. We do not fight with flesh and blood. We were never called to wield the two-edged Sword against flesh, against others. We are fighting strongholds of sin, fighting the effects of the curse, fighting spiritual battles against spiritual foes. But when we try to completely dismiss the warrior call, when we forget that we are at war we go the wrong direction. We are not to be fighting people. We are to love people. So when we take the call to war as a reason to attack those who do not agree with us, we have failed miserably the Commander's call to love and lay down our lives for the broken and the captive. But when forget that we are indeed at war, we fail in another way.
This earth is not our home. We are on the battlefield to rescue, help, serve and love those who have been born captured by the enemy, as we once were ourselves. No matter if they have Stockholm syndrome or not, the hostages are not our enemy. They are one of our missions. The other is to overcome sin and walk free and clean by the power of the Spirit. When we remember that sin is the enemy, when we remember that we are indeed in a fight that will not end while we are on this side of eternity, we remain vigilant against the selfish desires that lead us back into bondage. We remain determined to obey our Commander, do His will and reject sin so that we can stay alive and healthy. We are called to deny self, stop being selfish and walking in sin, and to love God and others. Those are the commands and the battle plan of God. He defeated sin and death and the curse by doing just that. He refused to sin, ever, denied His own will in favor of the Father's, even to the very point of laying down His life in place of those who hated Him that we might come to know and love Him and be rescued to life. That is a battle so stressful He sweated drops of blood.
When we forget the war is going on, that there are strongholds of sin in our lives and people who need to be rescued, that we are to fight here and pray for the rest that comes from going home, we begin treating this life like R&R. This is not where we fight sin and the effects of the curse, this is where we see how close we can get to the enemy without being turned or killed. The answer is not close at all. Sin in our life must be put to death, not flirted with. It is not OK to coexist with that enemy. But it's not the sin in others we are to fight. We are not to beat, preach or force the hell out of anyone. We are called to love the hell out of people, to go into the darkness of the grave with them and lead them to the light of rescue.
But make no mistake, we are at war. 2 Corinthians 10 tells us that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, not material, not of this realm. That means we do have warfare and are at war. It's not metaphor, But just as our weapons are not of this realm, neither are our enemies. The enemies do not have flesh; they are not people. When we fail to remember and demonstrate the love of Christ to those who have not yet been rescued from the enemy then we in turn are in dereliction of duty and are aiding and abetting the enemy. It is deadly sin.
Here is what we are to be fighting with the Sword of the Spirit, the two-edged Sword of Truth. The strongholds of sin in our own life. This is a call to combat the arguments and lies against God in our minds, to bring our own thoughts into captivity and instead think and act on the thoughts of God which are love and truth. We fight against our own disobedience. This is our battle and we must wage that war. Do not get comfortable with the sin in our own lives or we will end up wounded soldiers unable to do our duty or worse, we will end up traitors, helping the enemy of God destroy the very people He sent us to love. Love others. Fight our own flesh. Walk free and serve. Deny self and lay down our lives to help the hostages. Love those Jesus loved, which is all of us, including the folks who spit on us, curse us, reject us, etc. Especially those our natural bent would be to not love.
Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments and or listens to the messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions to more people by sharing the Moments and messages that you read or listen to? Hitting the share button instead of or in addition to the like button will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.
If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment