Strange Bedfellows

16 Apr

Susan Merritt, PhD Christian Living, Weekly Devotional 0

Some time ago Heritage hosted a panel discussion on issues surrounding transgenderism. Along with obviously conservative members, the panel included a lesbian and a prominent leader of NOW. The idea of the negative impact of promotion of transgender acceptability on women was probably the only thing they agreed on. But that one idea brought them together in an activist setting to declare concerns about safety and the potential loss of many years’ worth of progress on all levels of women’s issues.

Historically, there have been numerous times people have come together on singular common ground and typically for short periods of time until their purpose is achieved. An example is the inclusion of Russia (USSR) in the Allied forces for the duration of World War II against the threat of Hitler’s attempt at totalitarian world domination. Another example is the group of men who framed and signed our U.S. Constitution and who disagreed on almost everything except for their passion to establish the United States as a sovereign nation free from foreign interference.

As Christians we are called to love one another (1 John 3:11). But our sacred cows, those extra-Biblical beliefs about the way church should be, how we should live, and what our priorities should be, don’t always line up with those of our brothers and sisters in Christ. They, in fact, get in the way of true Christian fellowship and the signature love that demonstrates our Faith to each other and to unbelievers.

We don’t always agree about the meaning of the Word of God, which is eternal (Luke 21:33), much less political thought that is constantly changing. Other factors of human error and spiritual warfare aside, the only way to overcome these differences is to focus on what we do agree about and that is that Jesus Christ died to save our souls, was buried, and rose again the third day, thereby establishing His grace and mercy as the basis of salvation. Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in each believer, increasing intimacy with Him through reading, meditation, and obedience to His Word, worship, prayer, and the promotion of His Kingdom are what unite us in Christ.

If we are all in agreement about values because we adhere to the Word of God for those values, then wouldn’t we agree politically, socially, and ecclesiastically? That is not something we see in practice for at least two reasons. First, each of us is uniquely created and our lives differ from the life of every other person on earth. No two people experience life in exactly the same way. Therefore, no two people respond to or assimilate with their environment in exactly the same way. Second, God has His witnesses in every place and that ministry of each Christian is unique. Because he uniquely equips and places each of us in the sphere most suited to His ministry assignments for us, we cannot discount the ministry He has assigned for others who may not be doing God’s work the way we think they ought. Each of us is accountable to God for what He has led us to do or say in His name. So how do we get past this conundrum of disagreement about anything, but especially about what the Bible says and how it should be applied to our personal lives? God knows our hearts and we cannot judge how each of us communicates with God and where each of us is in our walk with God.

Paul describes the mystery of being known by our attitudes and actions in terms of a book written in our hearts that is readable by all who see us: “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men; Forasmuch as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God” (2 Cor. 3:2-5).

Like those historic strange bedfellows cited above, in order for our Christ-centered love for each other to cross the barriers of our individual sacred cows, our focus needs to be centered on the one thing that unites us. It is all about motivation. Only when the promotion of the Kingdom of God, as preached and exercised in the context of the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen again for the salvation of our souls, is the center of each our individual focus with humility and holiness, only then can we demonstrate the love of God for one another as Scripture commands us. And that focus can only come from the enablement of the indwelling Holy Spirit that is activated when we step into obedience by faith.

“And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all, even as we do toward you, to the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints” (1 Thess. 3:12-13).