Four years ago, I was deeply distressed by the vitriol and venom on social media. Not from the “talking heads” I followed and did not know in real life but rather, it was those I had a personal relationship with left me with great sadness and confusion. Many were people of “faith” with whom I had worshiped with at one point or another in my life and yet, the tone and conviction of their posts made me question if I ever really knew them and if our “relationship” was ever true. I found myself quieting many of them on my timeline but the damage had already been done and I have spent the better part of the last four years walking through forgiveness and healing.

The greater truth is we all need a forgiveness and healing. We all need a Savior. It is a plain and simple fact – a presidential candidate will never be it. When Christ followers get caught up in the election cycles and the candidates, I wonder who holds the heart more. Especially when a candidate is set up to be the “deliverer” from all the evils of this world or at least what we deem most pressing. No person who walks the earth can deliver us from even one.

Indulge me here … in Matthew 22 the Pharisees were trying to entrap Jesus and questioned him about paying taxes to the emperor or not. Jesus knew the malice in their heart and asked for a coin. This coin had the head of Caesar on it. He then asked, “who is this” and they replied, “Caesar.” To which he replied, “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.” This speaks to me greatly. A ballot to be cast in November does not belong to God’s Kingdom. It is our proverbial coin of Caesar’s. Therefore, do your due diligence and vote but do not let it impede your witness as a Christ follower.

If our intensity for a candidate far outweighs our love for the one who will vote differently. Be careful.

I recently saw a post that questioned the veracity of another’s relationship with God based upon their political stance (which was oppositional to the writer) and it saddened me. A differing vote does not make an adversary in God’s Kingdom as much as it does in man’s world. However, if an adversarial stance impedes your ability to love another, something is wrong. Very wrong. Love requires many things such as grace, mercy, kindness, goodness, honesty and the willingness to believe the good of another just to name a few. When we lose the ability to exhibit this we have lost the ability to love. When we have lost the ability to love whose kingdom are we serving?

Four years ago, I had to quiet many on my timeline. Today that is no longer necessary. Four years of walking through forgiveness and healing have brought me to a place where instead of “silencing” the posts of political sarcasm and criticism to protect my own heart – I pray for the heart of one who posted.

I’d rather bring them to Jesus than forfeit them to Caesar.

I was listening to a podcast when I heard a statement that has stuck with me ever since. It was simply “a victim can never be a victor.”

This world would have us believe we are a victim of something. Just watch the news for five minutes and you will hear all the ways you have been affronted. Turn on any radio station, pick up most any book that speaks to current events and you will find your victimhood. The enemy of our souls would have us believe we are a victim of a million different offenses, and he longs for us to claim them all but if we believe only one, he will claim success. Christian after Christian has fallen for his ruse and believed his lies, but it should not be so because a victor cannot be a victim.

If we have been saved by Christ, our victory came through him. It has already been won. It has already become our inheritance. However, when we allow ourselves to be a victim to whatever the enemy, the culture and this world tells us must be so, we become fixated on what has been done or what we think has been done to us. It then becomes what we see – in everything. It becomes what we think – in all things. It becomes our truth and therefore taints every thought, word and action. Yet, our truth will never be THE TRUTH. Our fixation – our victimhood – keeps our focus everywhere except on the One who has won our victory.

Paul told the Corinthians, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1Corinthians 15:50) When we are caught in a victim mentality, we are stuck in our flesh and are mired in the world. We are unable to walk in our inheritance. Jesus told us that in this world we will have trouble and persecution but in him we will have peace. (John 16:33) If we are more focused on the persecution – real or perceived – peace will remain elusive. Living as a victim means we do not believe in the sovereignty of God and cannot trust him with the circumstances. However, we are reminded in the Word to run the race set before us looking to Jesus to perfect our faith. We are to consider his example of endurance and not grow weary or lose heart. We are to endure trials for the sake of discipline full of faith in our victory in Christ. (Hebrews 12:1-7)

Believing and speaking our victimhood denies our own weakness (we all fall short) and seeks to blame another. It is a mentality that begs for healing …

“Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.” (Hebrews 12:12-13)

A victim mentality is our lameness. Our circumstances may be difficult and uncomfortable but we are not a victim of it. We must never allow ourselves to be incapacitated because of it. A thorn in the flesh – a messenger of Satan – was given to Paul to torment him.  He prayed three times for his thorn to be removed. And, when it wasn’t Paul didn’t call himself a victim of it. What would it be if we actually did the same? Might we too hear the words, “my grace is sufficient and power is made perfect in weakness.” Like Paul we then might be able with full sincerity say that we are “content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)

Oh, that we would stop coddling our victimhood. Stop singing our victim song. Stop wearing our offense as a badge of our persecution. May we let go of what our flesh demands and what the world dictates and have faith in the sovereign hand of God standing firm in the victory already won for us. May the victory cry rise from the deepest places within us as we continue to trust him to perfect us in the midst of whatever is happening. This world and all its affronts and offenses are temporary.  It will all perish. The Kingdom of God of eternal – it was, it is and it will forever be – victor and victory! In Christ, this is our inheritance.

Live the VICTORY and not the victimhood.

280 days ago I put pen to paper and wrote Day 1 on the top of my journal. It wasn’t the first page in the notebook but it was the first page of counting. Counting the days that gathered us in and closed us off. 280 days of counting and I am still not done. Yet, this is something I will walk away from this time, we have both – always both – here on this dirty ground. We have the good and the bad. We have heaven and hell. We have them both – because here we can live them both. Our humanity is born from the breath of God and breathed into the dirt of this ground. It holds us here in both kingdoms and here we must learn to love one more than the other.

Perfection will never happen but surrender always will. We choose to whom we surrender.

2020 has been a year of fear – fear of a virus, fear of scarcity, fear of others, fear of police, and fear of politicians. Fear causes us to capitulate or it becomes the root of resistance. Fear induces us to relinquish or it provokes us to seize hold.  Surrender will only come when fear is confronted – not the person, the place or the thing – but the fear we hold within us.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

John 14:27

This world is full of noise. It is growing louder every day and with the growing volume the rancor is becoming intense and piercing. The enemy of our souls thrives on noise, rancor and restlessness. And, far too many of us seem to be falling victim to his lies and propaganda.

In John 17 Christ prayed for his disciples as he was preparing for his departure from this world. He prayed for their position and identity to be in Him and not of this world. He prayed for their protection from the evil one and he prayed for their sanctification in truth – acknowledging God’s word is truth. But the beauty is that Jesus drew us – those of who would believe in Christ because of the word of the disciples – into this prayer. All Christ prayed for them, he also prayed for us. We were brought into the mission of this relationship as Christ said, “so that the world may believe you sent me.”

Our lives are the invitation for others to believe in Christ. Or as in the words of Paul, “…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

So, if we who confess Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives …

Noise cannot be our sound.

              Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10)

Rancor should not be our disposition

              Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also out to love one another. (1 John 4:11)

Restlessness cannot be our mindset

              Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)

Am I saying as Christ followers we should not stand for justice or be a voice for those who have none?

Absolutely not!

However, if our voice only adds to the noise, the rancor and the restlessness then the question I ask is – are we being the voice of Christ?

If we believe God is God, do we begin at his feet before EVERY thought, word and action?

If we believe God is the Creator of all mankind, how well do we love each other – most especially those we do not agree with?

If we believe God is sovereign, do we believe it true in ALL things?

And, if we do not belong to this world

              … why are so many of us living as though we do?

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. (1 Corinthians 12:12-14 ESV)

v. 12 — The church is the body of Christ. v. 13 — The baptism of the Holy Spirit places each believer into the body of Christ to function in a particular fashion. vv. 14-31 — There is one body but many members. Members of the body of Christ function in the body of Christ. (J. Vernon McGee outline blueletterbible.com)

12, 13. Unity, not unvarying uniformity, is the law of God in the world of grace, as in that of nature. As the many members of the body compose an organic whole and none can be dispensed with as needless, so those variously gifted by the Spirit, compose a spiritual organic whole, the body of Christ, into which all are baptized by the one Spirit. (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown bluetterbible.com)

“Unity, not unvarying uniformity, is the law of God in the world of grace” (A.R. Fausset)…sadly, we cannot witness this in the Body of Christ today. We have fractured ourselves into various tenets, doctrines and denominations. While we hold in common the belief of Jesus Christ – his life, death and resurrection – we bicker and divide over most everything else.

If the Body of Christ (the church) is unable to unite under the head of Christ, what impact can we really have this side of heaven? We stand on our soapboxes, firm on our beliefs, holding our preferred Bible versions and tear down everyone who does not walk out their faith like we do. Love is far from our thoughts, our words and our actions  If we argue over tenets and doctrines but cannot with grace and love consider the truth of another Christ follower, we are nothing but a lot of noise.

Consider…

• Are you patient with another? Do you really want to engage and understand their viewpoint? Or is yours the truth?
• Are you kind in how you speak?  Or are your words harsh, critical and judgmental?
• Arrogance can come in many forms, even in “righteous” thinking. The Pharisees and the Sadducees thought they knew how the Messiah would come but what they “knew” left them blinded to his very presence in their midst.
• Are your thoughts, words and actions honoring to others – most especially with those you don’t agree with?
• Are you spending your time trying to convince others your “rightness” by proving someone else’s “wrongness.”
• Does the passion that is driving you often lead you to indignation? Outrage? Anger?
• Are you able to see truth beyond your own or does truth stop with what you believe?

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

FOR WE KNOW IN PART AND WE PROPHESY IN PART, BUT WHEN COMPLETENESS COMES, WHAT IS IN PART DISAPPEARS. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. FOR NOW WE SEE ONLY A REFLECTION AS IN A MIRROR; THEN WE SHALL SEE FACE TO FACE. NOW I KNOW IN PART; THEN I SHALL FULLY, EVEN AS I AM FULLY KNOWN.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. BUT THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE.

1 Corinthians 13:4-13

Here in lies the truth…WE DON’T KNOW IT ALL.

We can’t.

God has given us the gift to walk out our salvation in the love, grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. As much as he has given to us, he asks us to give to others. This is what we can stand firm on. This is what we can pontificate. The rest is like straw on the foundation. (1 Corinthians 3:11-13)