GodReflection: Power Words

Fight may be the most aggressive power word I’ve used in this blog series.

Fight must be a post Eden gene. Jesus never tells us to fight. He is peace.

Those of us who grew up on the inside of church developed our own proverbs. One such proverb was to hate the sin and love the sinner. Truth be known we haven’t excelled at either half of the proverb.

I find it easy to hate someone else’s sin. I give myself more slack. I’ve never quite conquered the hang of loving the sinner—certainly, not in the “love my neighbor as myself” sense.

Have you noticed how certain sins are popular targets for a season? Have you notice the ease that is ours to fight the sinner rather than the sin?

I am not in favor of giving sin a pass. Sin is never ok. It’s not ok in others and it’s not ok in me. I always have the obligation—and hopefully the desire—to grow more like Jesus and reduce sin from my life.

Any admonishment offered to a fellow traveler must come from a humble spirit. Jesus didn’t tell the speck and log eye story to entertain. My point of departure calls for prayer and humility when I perceive sin in my own life. Shouldn’t that be where I begin if I see sin in the life of my neighbor?

Here is what I think.

Neither God nor His Son Jesus gave me permission to fight with a fellow believer. We are to love them.

I have permission to fight against one being—Satan. When Paul commanded Timothy his young protégé to “fight the good fight of faith,” his charge was to fight against Satan ruling his life. To keep Satan away from his life he was to “take hold” of the eternal life that he embraced as one who confessed Jesus.

I lament the amount of Christ-like witness lost through Christian battles. I lament the way we as confessed followers of Jesus treat sinners. We didn’t get that from Jesus life nor from his teaching.

I want to remind myself to use “fight” only as a word of power against Satan—never as aggression directed toward a fellow creation of God.

Stay tuned.

Dr. Gary J. Sorrells – A GodReflection on Fight as a Power Word.

Gary@GodReflection.org.