The Art of Being Out-Gunned | Part One
Posted on October 11, 2016 by America's Keswick in Freedom Fighters
“Not everyone who calls out to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in heaven will enter.” ~Matthew 7:21 (NLT)
Autumn has always been the coolest season in my life. Yea,h it may mean that it’s time to put the shorts away and bust out the hoodie, but autumn is hands down the bestest season of them all…in my eyes. Now with that said I have to realize that with everything I think is the bestest comes a slice of the baddest and for this season it’s politicians who want to get elected. What they will say just to be in an office with a title and a paycheck makes me want to pack it up and move to the Northwestern Territories in Canada. Why there you ask? Well they have a non-partisan democracy, there are no political parties there and you can wear a hoodie just about all the time without it ever being an odd thing to do…just sayin’.
Now, I gotta ask this to all of you out there in Christianland…have you all lost your minds? It seems that this coming election has brought out the worst in some of you – and I’m no better in this so don’t think I come out of this discussion squeaky clean – but when I caught myself way too wrapped up in this God sent this lightning bolt through me and it said “How To Love Your Enemies” by Ray Pritchard. Well, it wasn’t exactly a lightning bolt, it was Ray’s pamphlet that came to me via snail mail but it definitely confirmed a thought I have been mediating on. “Do we have an identity crisis going on? Have we all forgotten the teaching Jesus gave on The Mount?”
Open your Bibles to 5th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel 3rd verse. Does it say “Blessed are the Caesar’s, the Herod’s, the Pharisees and the Sadducees”? No it does not, Jesus didn’t come for them and He knew they weren’t seeking Him either. His audience didn’t chant slogans like “ROME FOR ISRAEL” or “MAKE BABYLON GREAT AGAIN”. No one ever said it because it simply wasn’t where their identity was found. And to give my take on it, I don’t see them really finding their identity when they returned from exile. Not everyone comes back so you’ve got a fragmented picture of the once blessed Israel.
The cool thing that Jesus does is exhort the people that have gathered to hear Him preach. It’s a pretty simple scene without much flash but there are people, a multitude of them, hanging on the very Word of God. There are ten specific groups of folks that Jesus encourages but I suspect that a little of those ten are to be found in us from time to time then comes the beginnings of their new identity. “You are the salt of earth…You are the light of the world…You are a city on a hill.” These are simple everyday people being lifted up by Someone who was there at the creation of it all and He’s telling them you are worthy of Kingdom things. There’s going to be more, but the teaching is going to be tough. After all, to whom much is given, much is required…but the yoke of it will be light. Jesus promised that.
As we draw closer to Election Day I will be covering more from three infamous chapters in Matthew’s Gospel, but until next time please remember this…if you say you’re a Christian, then you are a little Christ. That’s your identity. If you are doing what most are doing in their arguments with each other then you are a Republican who says you’re a Christian or you are a Democrat who says you’re a Christian. In either case you have confused your identity with a worldview point. Jesus doesn’t say blessed are the Republicans, the Democrats, the Socialists or the Green Tea Partiers.
Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the gentle, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who have been persecuted for righteousness sake, those who endure insults hurled at them, those who are persecuted with false account spoken of them all because of Jesus Christ. You are told to “Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” I don’t see anywhere in Scripture where my reward is on 600 Pennsylvania Ave in Washington DC. Don’t get me wrong, I want someone running our country making sure Kingdom principles abound…I’m just not gonna dirty up The Cross of Christ getting there. God is control…He alone knows the outcome. Until such a time comes you are to pray for Babylon. 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: Psalm 130; Proverbs 11
Daily Quote: To the natural man, the very notion of loving his enemies is an intolerable offence, and quite beyond his capacity: it cuts right across his ideas of good and evil. More important still, to man under the law, the idea of loving his enemies is clean contrary to the law of God, which requires men to sever all connection with their enemies and to pass judgement on them. Jesus, however, takes the law of God in His own hands and expounds its true meaning. The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer
This Week’s Verse to Memorize:
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. ~2 Corinthians 4:16
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