August 6, 2007

Jane Jimenez

America is a blessed nation.  For over 200 years, we have been a Christian nation, founded on the principles taught by Christ.

At every turn, America is being challenged.  Our laws are being re-evaluated by people who do not believe in Christ…who, in many cases, do not believe in God.  Our legislation is being crafted by people without a God-fearing faith…and by people of faith in other gods.

What are Christians to do?  How do we preserve what God has entrusted to us?

Good Christians have taken up the battle.  We fight on many fronts.  Our laws must preserved in the courts.  Legislation must be scrutinized for provisions that violate God’s commands.  Media outlets must be challenged to fully and fairly report the news.  And most importantly, on every front, Christians are fighting to preserve our religious freedom, our freedom to openly speak and act as Christians.

The battle is fierce.  And therein lays a danger.  As we fight to preserve a Christian nation and the freedoms it gives us, we must keep our focus on that larger struggle.

Our legal arguments are needed to preserve our right to pray.  Good reporters are needed to give voice to Christians otherwise silenced by a media hostile to Christians.  Congressional representatives must be free to speak and work, expressing their beliefs in what they do.

All these things we must fight for…without neglecting our first duty…our Christian duty as it was distilled and crystallized by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

The great commission came to us from Christ…not as a law of government.  It is the personal entreatment from our Lord, tend my sheep.  Our Christian duty is personal.  Do we love Him?  Yes?  Then shepherd his sheep.

The greatest battle of all is the battle for the human heart.  Christ came down to us not to rewrite Roman law.  He came to write God’s truth in our hearts through the ultimate miracle of living God’s love in our midst.

Clever legal arguments came from the Scribes and Pharisees who plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said.  Christ answered not with citations from the Torah, but by focusing human attention on Godly matters, rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.

Christ did not command a separate nation be built to sequester his followers away from the Samaritans.  He waited for the Samaritan woman at the well and told her all the things that she had done, serving her living water.  He taught that even a Samaritan can feel compassion and bandage the wounds of a traveler fallen by the side of the road.

Must we stay engaged in the culture, fighting to preserve our government founded on Christian principles?  Yes.  Most definitely.  But Christians are not won to Christ by writing laws in Congress or by winning battles in the courts.

Do we know the saving grace that guides our nation?  Yes.  But it cannot be shared with Samaritans by pointing to our Christian heritage and demanding that they bow to tradition.

Jesus is not “justified” by the number of people who vote for Him.  He was alone on the cross.  God is not more powerful or more loving because he is encoded in our government.  He is.  He was.  He always has been.

Laws that do not arise from the human heart will never be able to stand on precedence.  In times of trial, we must be willing to stand alone.  It is imperative that we stand for government under God.  But this is never going to be a convincing argument to convince non-believers of God’s existence or draw them under His wings.

We win The Battle, when we lead the way to Christ.  And we lead the way by following Him.  Do we love Him?  Yes?  Then tend his sheep.  All other matters belong to Caesar.  And while they may be matters of importance, we must do these things without neglecting the first.

Follow Him.