Wage the Right War

One of the mistakes American Christians make is to wage war at the wrong things. We see some hostility in the environment around us, so we react with hostility. We war against a political party. We war against people who oppose our beliefs. We war against systems that are unfair to us. We war against groups that oppose our values. Many churches and Christians believe we are at war with the world. So they take on a hostile stance and angrily attack the immorality out there, bad behavior out there, anti-christian talk out there. They protest and call names and denounce people out there. The Bible says the war is in here. The enemy is not the world out there, it is the worldliness in here.

In fact, our reaction to the sinfulness, the hostility of this world cannot be violent, angry, retaliatory at all. We

can’t wage war that way. Look how it’s described by the apostle Paul.

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world….we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

A few years ago, I wrote a piece for Christianity Today called, Trends in the Abortion Debate: Tracing the history of a thirty-year battle. As I researched the column, it became clear that one of the main figures of the pro-life movement had a disintegrating personal life. He was disciplined by his home church for abandoning his first wife and two children, and for repeated inappropriate relationships with other women. This pro-life crusader also disowned his teenage foster daughter when she became pregnant for the second time, and disowned his adopted son who announced he was gay. The tactics he uses to protest his causes have come under criticism for being offensive and deceptive. The man is warring against something that is wrong out there—and make no mistake it is reprehensibly wrong—but he has apparently failed to fight war in here.

The cause of our warring is the desire from within us, says James 4:1. “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?” And Ephesians 6:12 declares that our battle is not with flesh and blood but with the cosmic forces of evil, Satan and his angels. Unless we engage in that battle, our souls will shrivel and fail to thrive. So fight against the impulses and desires that prevent you from living a spiritual life, and wage war against your true self. 

An Alien in America

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

1 Peter 2:11

This is the third time Peter has mentioned this already, 1:1 “To God’s elect, strangers in the world,” 1:17 “live your lives as strangers here…” This must be an important concept. If you follow Jesus, do you consider yourself a temporary resident?

We lived in Canada for about 10 years. We were aliens. The technical terms was “landed immigrant.” Under that designation, I could earn a living and pay taxes. But I was not permitted to vote or hold public office. And I couldn’t learn to like hockey. I know all the words to the Canadian National Anthem and enjoy it, but it’s not my anthem. I loved Canada, but I was an American living in Canada, an alien, never a Canadian.

The reality is that even though I’ve been back in the United States for 15 years, I’m still an alien. I say that because as a follower of Christ, this place is my temporary residence. Do you see yourself that way? Really? You belong to Jesus, not America. Your home is heaven, not this world. You are an alien. You’re not completely settled here. There are things you like and enjoy, but it is not home. This is not where you get your identity. Take this seriously and it changes how you look at life and how you react to a hostile world.