What's Happened to the Sword?

Okay... I'm going all controversial on you again, but I hope you'll calmly think about this.

Early this morning I read this post: Five Reasons How The Church Failed Yesterday, and to understand my post better today, you might wish to read that article, first. (I'll wait for you to get back.) 

That post (which will confuse people back into apathetic corners, I'm afraid) was written by a Christian and spoke of the Chick-fil-A rally of the day before, proclaiming thoughts like this:


"Christians all over America ignored the second greatest commandment: to love our neighbors. Call yesterday what you want, freedom of speech, a rally behind “family values,” a sincere fascination with CFA’s brand of fried poultry… but it cannot be called love. It was not love."


Wow. According to many people Today, love is some one-dimensional, ooey--gooey, feel good, can-I-sit-with-you-and-pat-you-on-the-back-in-your-often-brought-upon-yourself-misery? kind of thing.

But have we forgotten how Jesus did love?

Jesus confronted those sellers in the temple, knocked their neatly-arranged tables over, even. He told the satan in Peter to get behind Him when Peter tried to talk Him out of dying for the whole world. He corrected Martha, defended Mary and He yelled at the religious high-and-holy guys:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."  Matt. 23:27, 28  (Have you read the whole Matthew chapter 23 lately? Wow.)

Jesus remembered that it's the truth which will set us free.

How much do we love our children when we don't confront them about that which will lead them to dark, dangerous places? How much do we love a stranger if we don't firmly yank him back from an oncoming bus?

Yes! Love is about giving and comforting and feeding and clothing and being available in times of need.

But that's not all love is. There's an even higher form of love: the love of God, His truth and standing up for both. A love the Bible tells us comes before the love of people, a love so high, so holy that it appears like hate in comparison:


".. And Jesus turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple."  ... Luke 14:25


I hear many people pushing some one-dimensional, passive, quiet type of love, but that's not the love I want! I want the kind of love which stands strong, vocally if need be, fighting in the Light for truth with the sword of the spirit in my hand and my heart. There's a world so dark and so confused out there and the love of God and His Word must always come first, foremost; it must be the deciding factor no matter who misunderstands and calls it hate. 

I want to be led by the Jesus who was not passive while here upon this planet, but rather, always did just the right thing at just the right time because He got His instructions from God and obeyed them, even when it wasn't comfortable or popular...

... and eternally changed a world because of that.


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"Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man."  ... Luke 6:22


"... don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God."  ... James 4:4
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"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

.....    Edmund Burke

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