Sowers of Discord
Posted on October 6, 2017 by Graeme Wilson in Freedom Fighters
“There are six things the LORD hates— no, seven things He detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.”
— Proverbs 6:16-19 (NLT)
It is an ugly trap set among the good and honorable things in our life. Its camouflage is so subtle that people have mistaken it for righteousness. It pulls in the multitudes and creates an atmosphere so chaotic that it turns brother against brother, sister against sister, culture against culture. It is designed to yank at your emotional well-being and exploits your passion to do the right thing. Some folks know exactly what they are doing when practice this and the rest of us, well…SNAP!! We’ve been caught in the trap. What is it? Discord.
Discord turns the harmony of life upside down and then wants to rewrite it. It drives people to serve their own interests and often catches others in its tailspin. It’s something we’re seeing played out in our everyday existence and (from my viewpoint) isn’t being confronted for the lie that it is. Disguised as “activists”, sowers of discord throw seeds of half-truths, negative emotions and innuendo’s around wherever there is conflict. It is an unfortunate thing when all these things are more exciting than TRUTH, isn’t it? To quote Solomon here, “When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you.” (Proverbs 23:1)
And speaking of sitting, when we sit in front of the zombie king to watch the nightly news, we should really take into account what is being presented to us, as Christians, with a grain of salt. Being someone who uses words to express those Godly principles that I often wrestle with, it can be easy to “war story” instead of pointing out where I failed and what God has taught me through the experience. That’s not to say I should dismiss the ugly in a story, but it doesn’t mean I should harbor in it either. What we see happening around us (the infamous “taking a knee” for example) isn’t really solving anything, far from it, but what we should be seeing is a need for people to see their lives in the way that only Jesus Christ can provide for them.
However, I think what we are experiencing through all this is a jolt to our collective ego’s. Pride puffs up, doesn’t it? Now you can go on and disagree with me on this and say it’s about respect for this or that, but in the long run pride will rear its ugly little head…and we’ll judge one another on where we stand. If we were to take a look at Matthew 7:1-4, Jesus is giving us a teaching by way of eye surgery. “How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?” (Matt 7:4). Basically Jesus is making this assessment: “If you impute an evil motive onto someone else, you’re simply making known what your motives are” (excerpted from “Revive Us Again”).
Discord isn’t going away anytime soon so long as we are all on this side of glory, but we Christians gotta do something to counteract its effect to those around us. I don’t think we should turn a blind eye to the events that are playing out around us, but I don’t think it’s a good idea that we join in the chorus either. We give a bad testimony to what Jesus Christ can do in the lives of the many that are lost…and the number of days are getting shorter until this ball of hate spins no more. We need to stop being sowers of discord and become pointers to The Cross. When we stand before the Judge of all judges we surely aren’t gonna be acknowledged for respecting a symbol, it’ll be for what was done for the Kingdom, nothing more. Amen?
Written by Chris Hughes: Chris, a graduate of The Colony of Mercy (11-2003) is married (Kathy) with two adult children (Kevin and Karen) and has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008.
The Daily Bible Reading: Obadiah| You can download our 2017 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here
Daily Quote: “Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything” — Billy Graham
This Week’s Verse to Memorize:
Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Psalm 106:1
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