The Loaded Gun

Right ammunition, wrong targets

We live in a world where we have valid concern about our personal safety. America, among many other nations, is divided on the perspective of gun control and what should be considered before allowing any person to legally gain possession of one.

Before I go any further - This post is not a conversation about politics or assault weapons.

Something crossed my mind in the midst of recent events (the shooting in Buffalo, NY and another in the same weekend in Houston, TX); a spiritual alignment in correlation to the reality around me. The same way citizens challenge the use and impact about guns, maybe as Christians, we too should be cognizant of how we use the Word of God.

If "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal," why do we use them more against people than we do against Satan?

Mind you, there is no real "if." We have weapons. They might not be physically in our hands or on our person. But they are real. Ephesians 6:10-17 explains the armor of God.

I first learned about the Armor of God and how to use these pieces of Faith to get through struggles and grow stronger in God when I was a teenager. I remember the sermon about how we are to put these on daily. As I grew and grew in my walk, I simultaneously grew in my situational and spiritual awareness.

The same Word we were given from God to develop ourselves, often gets misused as a deterrent against other people. Christians, myself included, get so wrapped up in knowing God in our personal journey, we tend to forget God's Word is not just for us. It's meant to bring people with us as we grow closer with God.

What I see and experience, albeit is probably the same thing each of you notice, is very concerning in the Body of Christ.

We learn scriptures. These scriptures, intended to fight off the devil, are what we use against other people.

We put on our "Helmet of Salvation,"to keep ourselves close-minded. The people we should be living witnesses to (about the grace and glory of God) become the folks we attack "in the name of Jesus. We take off our "Belt of Truth" and whoop people with guilt and shame.

Think about the times we used the Truth (quoted a scripture or shared a sermon) with someone, and our conversation isn't one that builds them up. We tell people about themselves like we aren't a work in progress, too.

We cut people up with the Sword of the Spirit and then use our Shield of Faith as a defense mechanism. We tear people down, and then runaway quoting Tupac. ("Only God can judge me.")

Ghandi once famously said, "I'd be a Christian, if it weren't for Christians." He went to a church and was turned away because he wasn't already a Christian. He saw (much like we do today) the lives Christians were leading outside of the church, only to be told he wasn't good enough to be in their company at church.

How many times have we heard about people who don't want to go to church, or stopped coming back to church, because of the stigma they felt for not being perfect?

The Bible is intended to guide us and help us to live such a life that others will want to join us in progress to perfection. There is nothing wrong with quoting scripture. We are encouraged to correct people, but with love - not condemnation.

We (yes, "we") can position ourselves to use God and His Word, and end up keeping/pushing people away from God. While well, intended, this poor execution of Christianity is as irresponsible as someone who has a weapon at war and doesn't know who their enemies are.

Have you ever played a video game (or watched someone playing) and you hear the anger and disappointment when someone on their team shoots at them?

That is what we do every time we quote God to someone, in a conversation intended to guilt them out of their sin.... SHOOTING DOWN SOMEONE ON YOUR TEAM.

Romans 3:23 teaches us, we all "fall short of the glory of God."

A few chapters later, Romans 6:23 tells us the "wages of sin is death BUT the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Let's put those two together. EVERYBODY sins, and EVERYBODY is eligible for forgiveness.

Our brothers, sisters, neighbors (however you'd like to reference any body who isn't YOU) only needs to believe in God and hear His voice for salvation.

Your role... my role... OUR ROLE is to teach them what to do with their walk and how to use their weapons, based on the example of Christ, not the comparison to YOU or ME.

"The weapons of our warfare are not carnal or physical" (2nd Corinthians 10:4) This means these are the tools and the scriptures we need to fight the devil. These are the resources we use to empower other Believers and bring those who may not believe yet into their next level experience with God.

If being a Christian means we think we have the right to criticize other Christians, we are the walking antithesis of the life we are designed to live, as we strive to mirror Christ.

"But Cherita, Jesus spoke condemnation and He checked the Pharisees all the time."

Thank you for pointing that out. :)

I'd like to navigate us to the rest of 2nd Corinthians 10. Verse 6 let's you know why WE need to be cautious when checking people using scripture. Check this out, y'all.

"being ready to punish every act of disobedience, when your own obedience [as a church] is complete." (2nd Corinthians 10:6)

Since we "all fall short" and Jesus was the only human being to ever walk this planet in total perfection... In all our righteousness, we will never be right enough to talk to people crazy in the name of Jesus.

C'mon, man... How do we "love thy neighbor" (Matthew 22:39, among other verses where this is cited) when we only speak to them about their faults? Honestly, if we read that entire verse, loving thy neighbor as we love ourselves means we should hype up the people to our left and our right.

THEY ARE TRYING TO LIVE RIGHT, JUST LIKE WE ARE...

We need to give the same grace we expect from God every time we sin to the people in front of us.

I shutter to imagine the look of disappointment on God's face every time one of His children uses the Bible to shame His other children. The thoughts of the Trinity when one of us misquotes a scripture to make ourselves look better than someone and their actions, just because we can immediately recite a verse without having the Bible app open.

We were all called to be "fishers of men/women."

Have you ever seen a fisherman fish by pouring toxins into a lake?

The goal is to catch the fish, not poison the waters.