A Citizen of a Different Kingdom

2Timothy 2:4  No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs--he wants to please his commanding officer .    

    

            I have to admit that I was elated to see the election come to an end.  I have never been so embarrassed and broken-hearted by the behavior of Spirit-filled Christians from both sides of the fence.  There was petty squabbling and division; acrimoniousness and bitterness.  Some went as far to prophesy the death of America, or arugued that if I didn’t vote for their chosen candidate that I was unsaved, in error, or a heretic. The world was watching us and we utterly failed.

            As I prayed this morning for my own hurt feelings and shock over some of the mud-slinging, The Lord led me to 2 Timothy 2:4.  He reminded me that my citizenship changed on the day that I accepted Christ. My natural body is subject to the rule of the United States, but my spirit was accountable to another Commander-in-Chief: Jesus.

            The President’s job is to uphold the Constitution.  It is not to uphold the Christian agenda. “In God We Trust” only became our motto in 1956—not 1776.  Interestingly enough, that motto only appears on our money—not our Constitution. I digress.  The same laws that guarantees to me  the right to worship in the way that I choose, are the same laws that guarantee the Wiccan to have representation as a religion in the armed forces, or a gay man to teach in the public school system, or a Christian to lead the arguably the greatest nation in the world. As I sit looking at the wedding photo of my African-American sister and my Caucasian brother-in-law on my desk, I am reminded that fifty or sixty years ago it would have been against the law for them to marry in several states because of religion.

            I am a minister.  As such, I am not permitted the luxury pushing my personal opinion or agenda.  I must preach the gospel—in season and out. The God of the bible is never going to be okay with fornication, adultery, witchcraft, gay marriage, abortion or pornography or the legalization of marijuana to name some of the issues of today.  As a Christian, I believe the bible in its entirety; even the parts I don’t like. Trust me; I am not apologizing for my faith.  I believe there is one way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ.  However, if I demand that my President, senator, or other lawmaker uphold the Christian agenda, then I become the very thing I despise—a manipulator; a controller. That’s why I saw voter suppression, and other such abuses of power.  I realize now that I want a Christian President not because he will do as I say—but so that his heart might operate in wisdom (James 3:17), boldness (Proverbs 28:1) and mercy (Is 58:6-12).  I want him to be a Christian so that integrity will mean more than popularity or a controlling interest.  I want him to be a Christian so that he will uphold my right to pray in tongues; serve my church, preach the Jesus of the bible, and write this blog--even as he upholds the rights of people with whom I don't agree.

            The social ills of this world are only a manifestation of symptoms. The real issue is not abortion, pornography or anything else, for that matter. It’s the spiritual war being waged behind each of those issues.  The enemy of my soul desires for me to become entangled in political opinion and debates so that I will be distracted from my real Kingdom assignment:  making disciples, and waging spiritual war against that which is waging war against me. It’s time for me to stop blaming politicians for not curing the social ills, and to start doing the real work.  I must intentionally pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, then I must leave the comfort of my four-walled church and do the work of the Kingdom. I must change the world one disciple at a time. That also means I must address the issues in me and in the Body of Christ instead of trying to legislate the morality of a country.  It’s hard to represent the Kingdom of Heaven if I don’t look, act, or think like its King.  This way is not as efficient as trying to control the government; but it is more effective, and it’s eternal.

            That bible that I say that I believe says that 1). That God turns the heart of the king any direction that he wants it to go (Proverbs 21:1); it says that leaders-Godly or not are raised up by God (Romans 13); and it says that I should pray for my leaders whether I like them personally or not (1 Tim 2:1-2). It also says that I must remove the log from my own eye (Matt 7:5); pray for those who spitefully use me (Luke 7:26-36); and be a light in darkness (Ephesians 5: 7-14); not so I can control the hearts of others, but so that I might shine the way towards He that saves, refines, and restores. I must stop doing church stuff, and start BEING the church for whom He’s coming back.

           

An All Sufficient God for All My Insufficiencies

Each morning, I make a pot of coffee, and I try to create enough time in my schedule to actually sit down and enjoy it.  I also try to take that time to meet with the Lord and (tongue in cheek) solve the problems of the universe.  I call that time, “Coffee with Jesus.”

                This morning, my coffee time with the Lord led me to study 2 Corinthians 12.  Although I have read and meditated upon this scripture many times, I have learned not to balk at the familiarity of the passage.  The Holy Spirit can evoke many revelations out of one scripture.  As I read, I focused on particular verse: “(9) my grace is sufficient for you.  In your weakness my strength is made perfect.”  As many may know, I am a student of words.  I like them, and the emotion or action that they may evoke.  Words were enough to create a universe, and their power is enough to destroy any relationship, opportunity, or even a nation.  In this case, the words grace, sufficient, weakness and strength stood out to me.  There, in the midst of what even Paul calls boasting;  smack-dab in the middle of a very descriptive and enviable supernatural encounter with God, was a very simple statement. When I finish recounting any celestial encounters, my favored opportunities, or even my moral failures there is but one thing left: the sufficiency of a loving and kind God.

                The word grace literally means “loving kindness”, “benefit”, or “favor”.  “Loving kindness” is defined in the Greek by the word “agape”, which is also love; but it is the most deliberate and selfless love there is—the God kind of love. God’s unconditional love is what prompted Him to create a world for man to inhabit, dominate, and become fruitful in and multiply.  It is that same love that compelled Him to send a savior in Christ to rescue man when he so epically failed in his attempt at independence.  It is the love that John describes in 1 John 4 when he writes that “God is love.” God is not facsimile of love, He is not a type of love, nor is He the embodiment of love.  Quite simply, yet complexly-- He is love.  His very being is love.  If I took a glass and filled it with God’s love, the content of the glass would not be love—the glass itself would become love.  David explained it well in Psalms 63:3:  “Your love is better than life”.  The mere fact that I inhale and exhale is evidence of God’s love.  Do you know what that verse really says to me?  It says that I cannot be good enough to earn God’s love, and I can’t be bad enough to lose it. His love is, because He is.  I need a minute to pause and think about that.

 His love is sufficient; it is enough. It is satisfying. Back in Psalms 63, David said that God's love sated him like rich food.  So God’s love is like mom’s mac and cheese, pancakes on Saturday morning, or Sunday pot roast with potatoes and carrots.  It’s the comfort that I am looking for when I stand in the refrigerator staring restlessly, because I want only the one thing that will end my craving.  When I finally meet God in the secrecy of my closet; or even in the single mindedness of worship in the sanctuary I am finally full, content, drowsy-eyed, and warm, because I finally got what I long for deep in my spirit. I receive from Him a sense of well-being and surety despite what the circumstances of my life may otherwise indicate. Nothing else can compensate.  That’s why when I sought to satisfy my flesh with food, sex, power, pornography, or work; I was left hungry, irritated, weak and feeling foolish.  Eventually—usually through trial and error, I found that only He can give me peace.

                 Weakness is the feebleness and infirmity I feel when I expend all my energy trying to prove to God how much I don’t need Him.  Oddly enough, it is the fear of being weak that drives me to assert my independence in the first place.  It’s funny how although I know that nothing but God will do, I must often try my own remedies first.  That whole concept is laughable because it is only in my feebleness that I receive God’s strength. When Paul writes about God’s strength, He is speaking of God’s power in the midst my circumstances.  That’s the power that moved to create a universe. It fuels the strength of angels. It is the power that raised a dead Jesus, and it is the power that works in me through the Holy Spirit.  I mature in God only when the circumstances of life overwhelm me. It is then and only then that when I learn to find contentment in the fact that no matter what comes or goes, no matter what I suffer through or lose, God’s love never fails me.  I am never alone, and I am never left behind.   The all-sufficient God is always enough for all of my insufficiencies.