Day 205: Fight

2 Corinthians 10; 2 Kings 23:35-24:20; Habakkuk 1

Paul says, "we live in this world, but we don't act like its people" and that they fight battles not with weapons but with the power of God. First, this is a call to be different from the world. That seems to be a message I keep hearing over and over. As followers of Christ, our lives should have a different purpose, a different goal, and a different look than those who do not love Jesus. Why? Because if we truly love and serve The Lord, then our priorities shift from wealth, status, family, etc., to faith, justice, and eternity. Secondly, he talks about the battles. Our battles should not be physical, but instead freeing people from their pride, opening eyes, and breaking down barriers. Our battle is fought with truth and love, not with physical means. Any "Christian" who acts in violence is not a true follower of The Lord. That's not to say that a Christian can't be a soldier for our country, because God says that there is a time for war and encouraged several people in scripture to fight. But our day to day lives need to be a battle against sin and against hard hearts.

The people of Judah and Jerusalem had made God so mad, that he finally turned his back on them. But didn't we think that God would never leave for forsake us? God didn't leave, he didn't abandon them, he just turned his back, meaning that he was going to refuse to help them. They chose to live in such a way that demonstrated that they didn't respect God or seem to care about him, and so he decided he wouldn't waste his efforts, accept their choice, and instead would let them follow the path that they had chosen, which led to destruction and slavery.

This still seems like a relevant prayer:
"How long before you save us from all this violence? Why do you make me watch such terrible injustice? Why do you allow violence, lawlessness, crime, and cruelty to spread everywhere? Laws cannot be enforced; justice is always the loser; criminals crowd out honest people and twist the laws around...Even if you were told, you would never believe what's taking place now." Habakkuk 1:2b-5
With the all the underground sex slavery, abortions, bombings, injustices that are happening it is hard not to cry out to God. And we certainly should. But as mentioned above, part of being a follower of Christ is living differently. Want to live differently? Here's an opportunity: fight against the things of this world that are terrible and horrifying. Fight against sex slavery, fight against abortion, fight against injustice. That's one way of how we live set apart. It is going to be tough, and we will face criticism (even from other Christians), but we have to be bold.