“It is easier to cry against one-thousand sins of others than to kill one of your own.”
Psalm 120:7
I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war.
There is a certain violence in Christianity - and it is the death of self and all that goes with it. Christ speaks of it when He says that He came not to bring peace, but a sword. (Matt. 10:34) He is saying that there will be a violent, spiritual separation of the true believer from his sinful ways (and the means to those ways.) When Nadab and Abihu tried to compromise the initial sacrificial system, they were violently taken out. When Ananias and Sapphira tried to bring compromise into the church, they were violently 'separated' from the flock. When Simon tried to bring the purchase of spirituality into the church, he was violently rebuked by Peter. When Christ Himself found the moneychangers in the Temple, He fashioned a whip and violently put an end to it. And when God tells us to get into His Word, He tells us that it will be like a sword, violently cutting to the core of our being. (Hebrews 4:12)
I think we need to define 'violence' in a way that makes sense. Because spiritual violence is all through the teachings of Christ. So where do we stand with that? All I know is what I experience in my own walk: that unless something or SOMEONE violently enters in and rips out my pagan heart that is hell-bent on spiritual adultery and the things of the world, then I simply am not changing. I am so grateful that Christ did this - brutally - when I was crucified with Him. (Romans 6). I would not have done this on my own. Bullies never leave on their own.
Where this applies in the physical world, I don't know. I suggest you read Dave Capozzi's blog on this matter and some of the responses. It's a great discussion. For me, it's a spiritual battle and I have spiritual bullies constantly attacking me and my experience with bullies is that they must be taken down, they are never talked down. How does this relate to the 'bullies' of the world in Hitler/Stalin/Hussein, etc and what is the appropriate Christian response to that? That's another blog for another day.
I'm directing this posting to the spiritual battle. I have to tell you - if you want victory, you must allow Christ to violently enter the Temple of your soul and crack the whip and clear out all of the compromises, all of the buying and selling that you enter into on a daily basis. Your sinful nature will never leave your heart on its own accord. Again - bullies must die. I cry, as David did, that I am a man of peace. That is the way I want to live. However - as he continues to say: But when I speak - they are for war. And just as he had to physically removed them from his kingdom, so we have to remove our spiritual enemies.
1 comment:
Tom, that was an excellent blog. I could literally feel your emotions pouring through the internet. It was weird! HA! I could not agree more about the spiritual battle. There is a war going on in the heavenly places that we cannot comprehend. If Christ did not put an end to it by laying down his life, that violence would rip us apart every day.
I do have to say that I believe the violence to be of the devil and when we succumb to it, we are falling into a trap that he has set. When it comes to defending your family or things like that, I am right there with you. But a willing and even preemptive acceptance of violence towards other human beings is a very difficult one for me.
good stuff man!
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