War and Peace

 Hi everyone, every now and then, I think of a post for this blog, even though I already published it as a book.  And I want to share something helpful as people prepare to probably fight another war.  Here is an interesting verse from when Jesus was about to be crucified: John 17:36: 

³⁶ Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

 

So this usually highlights how Jesus was giving up his life and not fighting back.  And it was in fact the most merciful thing ever.  We should try to follow Jesus’s example as much as we can.

 

However this verse says something else that is very interesting to consider, which is that Jesus said his followers would in fact fight if they were defending an earthly kingdom.

 

Well he says would and not should, but I think he still presents this as an additional example of how much to use force to ensure people’s safety and well being as part of nations and communities.  The fact is that we aren’t Jesus, and though we pray and work for God’s will to be on earth as it is in heaven, most of us depend on government, rules, law, and justice of some sort.  A lot of us got used to it early in life and assumed we would always be doing mercy work. 

 

But here, with history’s spotlight on his every word, Jesus points out that it is more than appropriate for good people, and followers of Jesus, to use force against threats to their dearest communities, cities, and nations.  Our lives are very earthly, no matter how much we overlap with eternity and heaven. There is too much ignorance about this, partially because a lot of us started thinking so much about heaven and hell.  But even from that mindset, the teaching is there for people to learn that sometimes force is authorized and consistent with God’s teaching.

 

A lot of people who think they are above things like the death penalty, jail, cops, and armies, are acutally far, far beneath it, unworthy, and part of the reason bad guys get away with too much every day.