One Foot In Two Worlds
Sometimes I hear things and it frightens me that they should come from Christians. For example, today, I heard a Christian brother bemoaning the work of terrorists in the world. His solution was to hunt them down and kill them all. he used language like "slaughter", and "nuke" and "butcher" and other such words. When I heard him, I was reminded he is not the first Christian to talk like that. On the contrary, many Christians can be found using identical language. It grieves me to hear it.
But we live in two worlds. Our citizenship is in heaven. Yet, we are in the physical world too. For myself, I am a citizen on earth, of the United States of America. I once served in the American military. I carried a gun and was well trained in how to use it. I wore the award the Air Force gave to marksmen. As a citizen of my country, I was ready to defend her against any attacker.
But I am also a Christian. I know, as a Christian, that the real warfare is not between flesh and blood but with the Devil and his demons. I know that the the weapon of my warfare is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. You see, for a Christian, we do not go out and try to convince other people of the truth at the end of a gun, or by blowing up those who disagree with us. Our tactics are debate and persistant argumentation. We go out armed only with the gospel of Jesus Christ and we engage people's hearts one on one with the truth. That is how we fight our warfare. That is what we do.
When we hear on the news of another terrorist attack, our flesh, our earthly citizenship wants to strike back and annihilate our attackers. But the Christian in us ought to pray for the conversion of every terrorist out there. Paul said in Romans that vengence belongs to the Lord, but if the Lord would grant that person repentence it was even better. Best is to see an enemy turned into a friend. It is hard to live in two worlds. As a nation, we have to defend ourselves when we are attacked. As Christians, we pray and work for the conversion of every soul, even those of people who hate us passionately. I am not sure I have a solution to the dilemma to offer. It is just something I thought about earlier today. Living in two worlds ... it bears reflecting on.
Sometimes I hear things and it frightens me that they should come from Christians. For example, today, I heard a Christian brother bemoaning the work of terrorists in the world. His solution was to hunt them down and kill them all. he used language like "slaughter", and "nuke" and "butcher" and other such words. When I heard him, I was reminded he is not the first Christian to talk like that. On the contrary, many Christians can be found using identical language. It grieves me to hear it.
But we live in two worlds. Our citizenship is in heaven. Yet, we are in the physical world too. For myself, I am a citizen on earth, of the United States of America. I once served in the American military. I carried a gun and was well trained in how to use it. I wore the award the Air Force gave to marksmen. As a citizen of my country, I was ready to defend her against any attacker.
But I am also a Christian. I know, as a Christian, that the real warfare is not between flesh and blood but with the Devil and his demons. I know that the the weapon of my warfare is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. You see, for a Christian, we do not go out and try to convince other people of the truth at the end of a gun, or by blowing up those who disagree with us. Our tactics are debate and persistant argumentation. We go out armed only with the gospel of Jesus Christ and we engage people's hearts one on one with the truth. That is how we fight our warfare. That is what we do.
When we hear on the news of another terrorist attack, our flesh, our earthly citizenship wants to strike back and annihilate our attackers. But the Christian in us ought to pray for the conversion of every terrorist out there. Paul said in Romans that vengence belongs to the Lord, but if the Lord would grant that person repentence it was even better. Best is to see an enemy turned into a friend. It is hard to live in two worlds. As a nation, we have to defend ourselves when we are attacked. As Christians, we pray and work for the conversion of every soul, even those of people who hate us passionately. I am not sure I have a solution to the dilemma to offer. It is just something I thought about earlier today. Living in two worlds ... it bears reflecting on.
posted by John | Monday, July 31, 2006
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