I can scarcely watch the tv, turn on the radio, or open my social media without hearing the latest controversy that I should be protesting as a Christian. The lists of wrongs that mainstream Christianity are calling for me to be against are staggering, and with each comes a passionate litigator emblazoned with fire for his cause. 50 Shades of Grey, The Davinci code, Stigmata, The last temptation of Christ, the search for heretics, the cleansing of liberalism, translation arguments, theological disputes, and the lists go on and on.
As I sit here at my desk and think of all the causes that Christians get fired up about it reminds me of my 8th grade Algebra class. Back in the 1980's I felt about Algebra much like I do today. I hate it. In 8th grade I hated doing it so badly that a few of my classmates and I devised a strategy to keep from doing as much of it as we could. You see I had an Algebra teacher that was literally a Korean war hero. He had served with distinction in the army and with a little bit of encouragement we could get him to tell war stories during Algebra. What 8th grade boy wouldn't want to hear about grenades exploding nearby as opposed to solving for x? My point is we caused a distraction. By getting him to chase rabbits we got out of a lot of Algebra. Christianity today spends a lot of time trying to root out what they consider evil.
Now I want to say that I am not endorsing 50 Shades of Grey or any movie, book, or philosophy that contradicts the Word of God, but I am saying that too many times the tangents are the focus.
In Matthew's gospel there is a parable Jesus tells that has come to be known as the wheat and the tares. In the story a man sows a field of wheat, but when the wheat comes in, he and his servant notice that there are tares that have been mixed in with them. The servant expresses his concern over the problem. The conversation goes like this:
So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
The servant wants to run in and pluck the tares out, but the Sower says. No don't do that. We will go about our mission, and when the time comes it will be sorted out. Often times running in a situation in protest and the desire to stop or destroy the evil does more harm than it does good. I imagine a lot more people will go to see 50 Shades as a result of Christians screaming in protest than if we really just lived and spoke in manner of going about our mission. Here are a few things I wish we Christians would burn into our brains.
1) What We do speaks Louder than what we say EVERY SINGLE TIME. The book of James cuts to the chase when it asserts that if we truly know Christ, it will show by our lives. It will be so evident that often times there will be no need for words, but when there are, we will be much more credible.
2) Lost people will ALWAYS act lost. It shocks me that Christians are shocked when a lost world acts lost. It is the nature of man to do the wrong thing every time. Don't expect the world to produce content for your entertainment that reflects the standards of Christ. They are incapable of doing so.
3) The Church needs to focus on being a beacon of light, not an amber alert of the dark. Light doesn't have to seek out darkness. LIGHT OBLITERATES IT! Darkness cannot stand in the light. We are called to Salt and Light to a dying world. They should see our lives and be blinded by the light, and thirst for what we have.
When the tendency to chase those rabbits happens, let's focus on "letting your light shine before men so they will see our good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven".
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