I find myself facing this tricky conundrum. I'm a Christian, and I live in this world. Not only do I live on Earth, I live in America (well, at least I DID - I'm FROM America), which has been called by many a "Christian" nation. (No, it hasn't gotten tricky, yet).
So, the tricky part is, how much of this world is mine?
What I mean is, how far do I go to make this world live by biblically moral and upright standards?
We know the world is sinful and full of sinners (including myself). Some of us have been saved from this sin and its consequences, but most of us have not. Therefore, there's this struggle of the people who have been saved wanting others to see the truth.
The problem is, they can't. They're blinded by the god of this world. So what do we do?
Do we shove our truth in their faces? Hold political rallies telling them they're wrong? Act like the most disrespectful, cantankerous, nasty people in order to forward our own beliefs and agendas?
Well, some people seem to think so.
It just so happens that I don't.
You see, we have this terrible problem of spoiled, whiny, terribly mistaken Christians in America for a few reasons:
1) They don't know Jesus. No, I don't mean know ABOUT Him or who He is. I mean KNOW Him. As in, they seek Him every day, know His voice, submit to His will no matter what, and have a relationship where the communication goes two ways.
2) They've been raised in a society that thinks that you can be a Christian without knowing Jesus.
3) I'm just listing this here in case there are other main reasons, but I think that they all fall under the first two.
So . . . along with a growing, thriving relationship with Jesus comes an understanding about people, about others, about life and how to live it. Therefore, as we grow, we should realize who surrounds us . . .
. . . sinners.
And what do sinners do?
They sin.
Should we be surprised?
No.
Should we blame them?
No.
So why are we? Why are we condemning people right and left for doing things deemed "immoral" (and actually are in reality, but like I said, most of the world can't see that, so to them, it's just "our" morality)? Jesus never did that. I don't want to join in with the millions of voices of "DON'T JUDGE" and sound like a broken record. I'm not pushing religious or moral relativity or "tolerance." I'm saying that we shouldn't be surprised when sinners sin, and we shouldn't hold them accountable to what they have no control over (Rom. 8:7)
As a side note, don't feel ashamed to speak the truth in love. There is actually condemnation to those who are sinning (Rom. 8:1) and they perceive us as the source of that, but we're not. We're speaking the Word of God and they project their guilt on us. Anyway. . .that's a whole other post. . .
So here's where it gets really tricky:
"Christians" (some of them may be legit) are super-frustrated in America. They're angry that gay marriage is being legalized, that Christianity is undermined in the media, that people cuss on TV and sing about sex on the radio. They count cuss words in movies and spread aspersions about the people they feel are a threat to their "Christian society."
Christian society? Really? You really think that's what we're called to?
Which brings me back to my question. Do we have a right to be upset? I mean, we're in this world, right? So how much of it is ours? How much can we expect it to bend to our will, our way of life, our truth?
"Defend our rights as Christians!" What rights? You gave those up a long time ago when you decided to follow Jesus. Now you're going to be persecuted, ridiculed, insulted, and if you really gave your life up, you're not going to take offense to any of it. So why are we fighting for these rights that aren't ours to possess and getting offended that people don't see things the way we do? I mean, seriously? Seriously. We're here to be servants who embody love, not crusaders to impose the truth on those who can't see it.
So that is my conundrum. Should we really hold rallies against gay marriage and other things contrary to the Bible? We should pray. We should definitely pray. We should definitely reach out to people and speak the truth in love as the Spirit leads us. However, I do feel that a lot of this political activism has been driven by a fleshly desire to be "right," and to have our ideas exercised throughout society. It doesn't work, folks. Oil and water don't mix, no matter how much you want them to.
Maybe I'm way off. Please give me your thoughts, because this has been rolling around in my mind for quite a while now. I'd really like to see some counterpoints or further developments.
