Dear Friends,
At the time this devotion is being written, the U.S. government has closed 33% of all government jobs. It’s called a “government shut-down” because the President refuses to sign the budget that the House has presented because they differ on building a security wall on our border.
What seems to have been lost on politicians all over their world is that the common man (e.g. me) are not so much interested in the merits of their arguments when it comes to issues as we are with the maturity they display—-they should be able to make peace with other!
Likewise, within the body of Christ, the true disciple of Jesus is not interested in the arguments from Christians that are unwilling to listen to the other side of the argument. The disciple of Jesus is interested in truth and in listening to Jesus, not the platitudes of the immature parts of the body that have too much pride wrapped around their convictions.
What should interest me is what God would have me do when I am challenged spiritually, intellectually, politically, socially, etc. Am I to “strike back”, or turn the cheek/walk the extra mile/put up with the weaknesses (and wrong way of thinking?) of others?
I was recently talking to a friend about the great intelligence and admiration a Bible teacher we both know. I remain impressed with those that quote what he says and who follow his blogs closely. He’s a very gifted man. But my friend reminded me that if this same, gifted and committed Christian is challenged or disagreed with, a rather surly and combative man comes out. It seems that his opinion is the only one that matters in spiritual matters and if you disagree with his monologue he can be quite dismissive of you and your opinion.
It’s easy to look down my spiritual nose at people that act like this, but I must look at my own tendency to get frustrated with liberals, ultra-conservatives, spiritual folks that think they are God’s gift to the rest of us, and so forth. Yes—-I can become easily irritated with people that disagree with me, and how revealing it is to my immaturity in whatever area they don’t see eye-to-eye with me.
But what am I to do? Well, God does not expect me to “reduce” the gospel, deny the truth or deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ. But I would do well to “put up” with those that have not reached my “enlightened” conclusions, nor should I demand that others to respect my opinion——as if I have some esoteric knowledge of God that others cannot grasp. The big challenge, for the bigwigs in Washington, DC, as well as the intellectually gifted in the Christian community can be summed up in one word is this: humility. In the community of Jesus we’re supposed to consider the needs of the other to be more important than our needs.
Imagine a world where politicians worked together like that. Imagine a place where every Christian author, speaker, pastor and camp director did the same……it would give us real glimpse of heaven on earth.
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