By Chris Seah
No one wants to be disrespected. Folks today are divided over many convictions. Social media has a way of intensifying these divisions by making them more deeply felt with sound bites, video clips, and bombastic memes. Of course, most people do not get riled up over things that matter little.
But sitting behind our computers and smart phones are sinful human beings! And we sinners are rarely so filled with righteousness that we are always angry for all the right reasons (and with the appropriate intensities). Admit it. For some of us, the overturning of Roe was cause for celebration because we got to own the “libs,” not mainly because we rescued unborn children whose names or faces we may never know.
For others, it brought grief, not because we believed that our rights were taken away but because we felt the sting of defeat.
What am I getting at? We must be open to the possibility that there is another power at work behind our current activism—and it is not a pure concern for justice or truth. It is a concern for our glory. Our sense of self-respect is at stake.
We have too much skin in the game. We have invested our identities a bit too much into our chosen sides in the culture war. That is why we too often get inordinately upset when our side loses and we gloat self-righteously when it wins.
All this is understandable. After all, we are sinners who cling to this world for glory. The danger is that we start equating righteousness before God with being on the correct side of this or that issue—and we harden ourselves to any legitimate concerns from the other side. This is not healthy for our relationships. And if one professes to be a Christian, this is certainly not helpful for one’s faith. Why? Because it leads us to boast in ourselves rather than in Christ. From there, we could start down a dangerous path of confusing our side with God’s cause and our political activism with the Gospel. We take matters into our own hands. We trust in our own understanding (Prov. 3:5).
But God loves us too much to let us get lost in the confusion! Good Shepherd that he is, he sends his good and merciful Word to reclaim us: Repent and believe the Gospel! Admit that you are a sinner, unable to stop sinning, and then embrace the forgiveness of Jesus Christ!
He is the Savior that God has appointed for you. By his death, Jesus relieved you of your sins and forgave you (Jn. 1:29). He forgave you for being on the wrong side of any issue. He forgave your self-righteous condescension and anger (which he considers a form of murder (Mt. 5:22)!). He forgave the abortion that you had, along with the unbelief that drove you to it. By his resurrection, he broke the shame and death operating in your life. By his ascension, he raised you to the heavenly places to sit with him in the sunshine of God’s smile (Eph. 2:6). Through Christ, God’s new creation has come to you (2 Cor. 5:17)!
So boast in the Lord alone! Put no trust in your own goodness or zeal. Jesus alone is your wisdom, righteousness, and holiness before God. Only those who abide in him will bear good fruit (Jn. 15:4-5). Look to Christ! Fix your heart on him. Feed on him by drawing from his Word. Go back to Church. Find your identity in Christ, not in any identity that you have chosen for yourself. Then—and only then—can you begin to dislodge the log that is in your own eye and see clearly enough to remove the speck from your neighbor’s (Mt. 7:3). God love you!
Rev. Christopher Seah is the pastor at Faith Presbyterian Church in Perryville as well as Brazeau Presbyterian Church. He can be reached by email at seah_christopher@yahoo.com
