Romans 12:18
“Some want to live within the sound of Church or chapel bells; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” - - C.T Studd
Romans 12:18
“If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men,..”
“Be at peace”….what a concept for our day and age. All throughout scripture we see the emphasis and reality that the entirety of our lives carnally and eternally is relational. The foundation of creation is in a Triune God that has been in perfect relationship with one another as Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The extension of their relational love was brought forth into a creation spoken into existence by this God and at the pinnacle of this creation we see man created in His image. Man that was created for relationship with this God and the creation He blessed us with. But as we know, through the rebellion of man, that relationship was changed by our now fallen nature. The impacts of this reality still manifest today, but through the Grace and Love of this same God man was not left for this brokenness.
All throughout Christ ministry He calls his followers and disciples to step outside the normal relational responses of man in the flesh. Our flesh looks to rectify relationships and abuses through concepts of “getting even” or “repaying evil with evil”…for that is now our nature. Christ calls those that follow Him to see the impacts of our fallen nature on our fellow man. Whether that is relational with our literal families, our neighbors, or our enemies, but more importantly our God. Christ reiterates that He has not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. He articulates time and time again that the Law is summarized in these two ways, “Love God and Love man”. The spirit of our age today has perverted this call to love to a call of apathy, tribalism, and condonement of sinful rebellion. In Luke 17:3-4 Jesus states, “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, “I repent,’ forgive him.”
Christ lays out for us that in love a brother will rebuke another brother in his sin. This rebuke when done in love is through the hope and prayer that this rebuke will call a brother to repent, and through this repentance be restored by the rebuker’s forgiveness. The movement of our age is one of flaming the fires of division and hatred. Biblical rebuking is done from the understanding that the sins of our fellow man derives from the reality they are dead in this sin and slaves to it. This should be a sobering reminder for not only ourselves in the battle with our own flesh but the maturity it takes from the power of the Holy Spirit to meditate on the gravity that our battle and enemy is one that is spiritual, not physical. Paul writes to the Ephesians in chapter 6 verse 12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
This is one of the hardest things as First Responders that we face today in a culture that thrives and is being driven by hatred, selfishness, and pride. Whether we see it in the division of our own departments through nepotism, slander or arrogance or in our interactions with the population through our calls for service, we must have the spiritual fortitude as Christian men and women in these professions to not engage in this brokenness but live at peace.
The comfort and reassurance we have is that our Savior-King came to this world and suffered the brokenness of relationships to the fullest extent. Christ endured the false accusations of His arrest, the abandonment of those who told Him they would stand by and die with Him to the end. And ultimately, Christ took on the sin of His people and bore the righteous Wrath of His Father that He had been in perfect relationship with of all time. That is an uncomprehendable love that was done while we were still in our sin and in complete rebellion to Him.
This call to love our fellow man is not a call to be abused as first responders. In our roles we have God ordained authority that calls us to serve and protect. Sometimes this call to love is acting in a way that stops the active sinning of another or the abuse of that person on the innocence of someone else. But this is not done from a spirit of pride or haughtiness on our part, but from an understanding that this world is broken and we are interacting with the world that our Savior died to redeem. This is done one call at a time, one shift at a time, one day at a time and ultimately one relationship at a time. May we show biblical meekness to those that in God’s perfect Sovereignty and providence we are called to interact with.
Matthew 22:37-40
“And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind’. This is the greatest and foremost commandment. And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God;…”
Hebrews 4:14-16
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us take hold of our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but One who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
“Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God’s majesty.” – John Calvin
James Doyle 6L13 ~March 2024~