War on Multiple Fronts – We Win! Really. We Win!
Our great country (not perfect – but great) needs for us to stand strong!
On how many fronts is war currently raging? I know it depends on which side of the battle you are on as to whether you consider that you are a victor or a victim. Realizing that the enemy of our souls is a liar and a divider, I recognize that he (Satan) has been lying and dividing from the time of his fall.
He led angels to follow him. Where did that lead? They were cast from heaven, and eventually hell was created to be there eternal dwelling.
He pitted women and men against each other from the time Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. Adam blamed Eve after Eve offered him the fruit from the tree of life. Where did that lead? This fall and the subsequent attempt to rule their own lives has led to the pain and sin of our world since that time.
We have been pitted against other people and people groups, and too often we fell for the lie, judged others as less than the valued creation of God they are, and failed to love or show acceptance and mercy.
The Sequence of Isolation:
When I was in elementary school, girls and boys were separated because we thought one group was cool and the other had “cooties”. Remember that?
At home, parents and their children were too often the “us” versus “them”. We kids thought parents were dumb or uncool or somehow not worthy of our respect.
Later in junior high school the girls began to have fewer cooties, and some of them were even worthy of the boys’ attention. We had a girlfriend – well, some did. That set a couple apart too often from their friend-group.
But with the inclusion of some girls came the exclusion of other groups. The “city kids” looked down on the “country kids”, and vice versa. Not only that but “jocks” looked down on us “nerds”. The feeling was mutual.
Then high school came along and the “jocks” and “cheerleaders” formed a class of students toward whom the rest of us felt inferior. I stayed in the nerd class but had some success breaking through enough to be elected to a class office as a senior, though I never made it to the “cool kids crew”.
Then the enemy began to divide us along racial lines as the influence of outside groups pitted some of the kids against each other based on race. That divide continued into college, where it actually got worse in the early 70’s.
As adults we had to face the battles of politics, denominational differences, and the battles continue to this day in areas old and new.
Did you catch that? The universe of those we are “supposed to” love and accept kept being reduced to the place where people had to think exactly alike, go to the same type of church, dress similarly, speak similarly, attend the correct kind of school, be from the same part of the town or county, believe the same way about politics and religion. How many people agree with you completely? Zero, that’s how many. What was Satan doing but trying to isolate then steal, kill, and destroy…YOU and ME! How dare he lie to us like that!
That is not what Jesus did or does. The apostle Paul wrote: “There is neither Jew not Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28 KJV
Notice now that our culture is being divided along social class, economic groups, religious versus non-religious, gender preference, political, denominational labels, etc, etc. Guess who is exploiting believers again? You guessed it. I am not saying we should all believe and act the same; but what I am saying is the the love of Jesus is bigger and stronger than the differences. We can actually disagree and love each other. Let’s do that now. In the end there is coming a day when we will love each other perfectly as Jesus loves us. Right? Hebrews 10:24 and John 13:34-35 along with Matthew 22:37-39 and Matthew 28:19-20 make our pathway clear. Start now. Start at home. Pray believing and see God do His great work. He has, He does, He will. I John 5:14-15.