Today’s thought and devotion:

It seems that many Christians today are on crusades.  Those crusades can be very different – but they are often against our leaders, or those who wish to be our leaders.  With heavy hearts and loads of anxiety we worry about our future, and our children’s. It can get to the point where we lose control – and the anxiety causes us to… well lets be honest… sin.  Especially in thought and with our words, as we pass along tweets and posts that we think “zing” those we oppose.  But what happens if we measure them against scripture.  For instance, as Paul talks about living in joy, and being anxious for nothing he writes:

 ^4:4 Always be joyful, then, in the Lord; I repeat, be joyful. ⁵ Let your good sense be obvious to everybody. The Lord is near. ⁶ Never worry about anything; but tell God all your desires of every kind in prayer and petition shot through with gratitude, ⁷ and the peace of God which is beyond our understanding will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. ⁸ Finally, brothers, let your minds be filled with everything that is true, everything that is honourable, everything that is upright and pure, everything that we love and admire—with whatever is good and praiseworthy. ⁹ Keep doing everything you learnt from me and were told by me and have heard or seen me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:4-9 (NJB)

Those highlighted words are hard to hear – in these days were we see a sharp retort or a really smart comment, and hit “share”before we think about how the post affects us. Does it cause our faith to fail, and if so, our faith in whom? Does engaging in such boost our pride, and rob us of our peace?  Does it breed more anxiety over our situation, as we continue to bear witness that is negative and fatalistic.  Do our sarcastic and cynical quips stop us from discussing the true issues – and paralyze us from actually engaging in God-pleasing actions to make a difference.   What is the impact of our own unrighteousness, as we encourage dishonor, and do we think what it does to that which is truly important that we bear witness to – the mercy of Christ?

I am serious, when I make the claim that our political activisim can easily work to undermine our faith, without consideration to whose “side” we are on.  It as much how we battle, and how we speak, that creates brokeness as it  is the issue or the person we are backing, or opposing.  In the heat of the moment, as our anxiety gets the better of us, we don’t realize it.

So here is the challenge – do we look first to God, do we consider the mercy of Christ and such things as Peter wrote about the Emperor who would order his death, when he wrote – Respect the Emperor…  Do we grasp what our actions will do to our witness of God’s presence and the peace it brings? Do we realize what dwelling in all this muck and mire will do to us, how it will result in even more brokenness in our lives?

DO we look to Jesus, and embrace Him, as Psalm 2 says, when it considers the schemes and plans and evils of leaders? Let us find Christ’s joy and peace and the great things Paul thinks of – then let us engage the world.  From the position of His strength, trusting in His promises…

and crying our in  faith, Lord have mercy!

May we be confident that He will…