Power Over

Do we really believe God is as powerful as He says He is?  That He is as holy..... as mighty ...... as loving and caring as He says He is?  That He will fulfill all the promises He has made to us?  If we do believe these things, then why are we always trying to handle everything on our own?  Why do we think we know the better way of solving problems, the better way of being the salt and the light, the better way of convincing others how to live? 

 

You might wonder where this is going, so I'll just come out and tell you.  I have a problem with Christians and Christian organizations boycotting and signing petitions like the AFA is constantly doing.  Not only do I feel it's not really accomplishing anything, I feel it's downright destructive to the Christian mission - that is to spread the Gospel and make disciples out of the nations.  When we use our collective power to force an outcome in this country, it doesn't do anything to promote true Christianity nor does it help to bring the lost to the Kingdom.  In fact, it may very well do the opposite by driving people away in anger and disgust.  We may think we've done a good thing to shut down a company that supports homosexuality, but what do the thousands of people that work for that company and now have lost their job feel about Christians?  How about the vendors that sell their goods through that company? How do you think they will view our efforts?  Perhaps they will feel that once again the Christian community has flexed it's mighty muscles and forced their own belief system on the rest of the country.   Do you think any of these people or their families are going to want to join a community that wields power over others while all the while making claims of being loving?

 

Instead, what if all Christians got on their knees and asked their Heavenly Father to deal with the problem.  What if we collectively pleaded with the only One who has all the answers, who knows how to solve all problems and loves us enough to grant our desires?  Do we think we know better than Him?  Do we think the only way to solve the problem is with a petition or a boycott?  God's ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9) so we cannot begin to know how He could and would deal with the situation.  Perhaps He would convict all the Christians who work for the company to voice their concerns.  Or convict the CEO of the company to have a change of heart.  We don't know, that's the point.  So we take things into our own hands and we usually make a bigger mess of it.  Yes we are called to be the salt and the light (Matthew 5:13-16) however that doesn't mean we do it by strong-arming the rest of the world.  I believe we are to be the salt and the light through example - by living not a perfect life, but a Christian life.  Which means we allow the love of Jesus to come through us and shine onto others and that we repent not IF we sin, but WHEN we sin. 

 

A couple of good books to read on this very subject are by Gregory Boyd - Myth of a Christian Nation and Myth of a Christian Faith.  In them he explains the premise of 'power over' versus 'serving under' and why Christians and the Church have gotten it all wrong in this country.  We may have good intentions, but our intentions aren't what matters - only God's intentions are pure and righteous.  We, as humans, want to solve problems overnight and in a big way.  We love to take credit but not blame.  We aren't satisfied with small victories for the Kingdom, we want to make a big splash and see our name up in lights.   The enemy loves that.  He is waiting for the next Christian outrage so he can convince us it's a worthy cause and something we need to spin our wheels trying to solve.  To convince us our heavenly Father would be pleased with us if we could just defeat the enemy at his own game.  Oh what a game it is! 

 

It's like that game where you hit the head that pops up and then it pops up somewhere else so you hit that one and then it pops up somewhere else - you end up spending all your time and energy trying to hit all the heads but they just keep popping up somewhere else and then you are exhausted.  And what have you accomplished?  Nothing.  The "game" will always win.  We are being duped by the enemy to spin our wheels, exhaust ourselves and then collapse because we can't win the game.  The enemy then wins because he has succeeded in keeping us from our true mission.  WAKE UP PEOPLE!  The war has already been won!!!  Hallelujah!  We need to stop worrying about each and every battle - ask the Lord to take care of those.  All we need to do is what our assignment is - to spread the Good News!   Amen.