Be the Difference
This post comes off of the heels of the Capital being stormed. I wanted to speak to the response that we, as Christians, should be focused on.
I’ll be honest, when it first happened, I didn’t want to acknowledge what was going on. I drove my emotions down deep, a habit I’ll discuss in a later post. Yet as I sat by and processed, I was able to observe how many of my fellow Christians and pastors were responding. I found it interesting that some got very angry, some were very sad, some never actually said anything (like me), and some pointed blame where, suppose maybe it was due.
Through all those emotions here’s the truth I think we as Christians should take away from these moments: “We should always point people to Jesus”
We have learned time and time again that our world leaders will fail us, that they will say things that we might not want to hear or will say things that we interpret as what we want to hear despite what the truth may be.
A lesson we seem to keep learning is that the “human” response is always negative, and that humans will do as they please because they feel like this is their world.
We as Christians know this is not the truth. We are here for temporary reasons, and we are here to shine the light of Jesus to others. "For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come." Hebrews 13:14, NLT
We put our faith in people even though people will fail us.
Here’s the unpopular opinions to some but should be the truth for us:
- God reigns supreme. He created this earth. He is King of this earth. He will always be in control of this earth and we must believe that.
- God puts leaders in place according to his plan. This could be the current president, this could be the president-elect, this could even be a senator or congressman/woman. God has them in that place of authority for His reasons. We must trust and understand that God‘s purpose is truth. “Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.” Romans 13:1 NLT
- God‘s plan is beyond greater than our own. We may not understand his specific reasoning or his truth behind some of the events happening in this world, but his plan is reining, and he is everlasting.
- We can never forget the devil is still at work. We saw selfish acts from many humans these past couple of weeks, and we will continue to see such things throughout our lifetimes. Spiritual warfare is happening, and we can never forget to hold ourselves firm to God’s promises
Finally, we are brought to this world to teach, love, show kindness, and bring the broken to Jesus. We do this with our action and our words. Yes, this means what you post on social media, how you condemn others, and how you point blame at human beings may do more harm than good, despite your intentions.
We can be disheartened by the things happening in this world, but our first action should not be to point blame. It should be to show love, give mercy, and show the love of God.
I’ll leave you with this;
“Word issues are heart issues. The only way to really fix your words is to fix your heart.” -Cary Nieuwhof Why Your Words as a Leader Matter (Far More Than You Think)
