I have a gift for being misunderstood. It started back when I was little kid, and as a result, I was always getting in trouble or hurting people’s feelings, because I couldn’t communicate what I was trying to say. This gift brought on some tears for family members that thought I was insensitive, but it also brought more tears to myself as I got in trouble…a lot.

This aspect of my personality has apparently not changed as I have gotten older…it just gets worse as I encounter more individuals and speak to a crowd on a fairly regular basis. On one hand, I would hope that people who know me would understand what I am trying to say, but all too often, that doesn’t happen and my words are still received negatively. Occasionally, I find a blog post (like this one) can serve as some clarification. 

We are currently doing a series through Tim Keller’s book The Reason for God. Last week’s message was about injustice (you can listen to it here). The central premise of my message was that when we (humanity) approach anything with an us versus them mentality, when we view ourselves as “better than” others, it will lead to division and, ultimately, to injustice. When we elevate any cause above Jesus, no matter how great that cause may be, it will, at its furthest extent, lead to division and not unity. We will only become unified by centering our lives around Christ. Centering our lives around Jesus first doesn’t mean there can’t be disagreements on topics—political or otherwise; it simply means that with Christ as our center, we can actually have varying opinions while still loving one another like family.

After service last Sunday, a friend of mine, who I have known for a long time, came up and said he disagreed with what I said. I was kind of taken aback, because once again, I thought I was clear and he thought I wasn’t. He said that I was implying that we do not need to take a stand against injustice or evil. He said my message spoke of becoming complacent and letting everyone do whatever they wanted.

Let me clarify…as believers, we are meant to stand against injustice and evil. I think the problem comes when we view the evil in others as a means by which we compare ourselves to say that we are “better than” someone else (in a created sense). 2 Corinthians 10:12 (NIV) We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. We do not get to compare ourselves to others—that leads to inappropriate judgements…if we compare ourselves to anyone, it should be Jesus. This leads to humbleness, because we are nowhere near as good as Him.

God calls us to be agents and ambassadors of His Kingdom (not ours) in this world. That means there will be many times where we must take a stand that may be unpopular in any given cultural context…but I think we will only be able to take that stand in graceful ways when we first understand that all of humanity needs to know the relationship-restoring love of Christ. I think our goal, while standing against evil, should always be with an eye to others’ salvation.

Take a bully, for example…

We should stand up for the weak around us and stop the bully from hurting others…yet, in the midst of stopping the bully, we should do our best to speak of the Gospel, so that he or she would have a change in heart. We should pray that our heart’s desire is for the bully to know Jesus and become someone who stands up for the right things, who ceases to be a perpetrator of evil. We can pray this even if we have to arm-bar him off someone else that needs our help. In the end, I think that those who were once enemies of the cross, which is all of us, can best be a testimony to God’s grace and goodness by changed hearts and lives.

To be clear, I am not saying that I think that something like war is never justifiable; there are times where I believe it is imperative for those with power to protect the weak. But I do firmly also believe that hope for someone’s salvation is a much better call for the health of our hearts than hope for someone’s destruction.