Complaining and Criticism

I’ve noticed ever since the election that there has been a lot of complaining and criticism of the duly elected president and his administration, and also criticism of the leadership of the Republican party. It seems like Christians, especially those with conservative leanings are tying themselves up on the political scene.

First instinct is to think ‘Who can blame them?’. After all we’ve got the mess of taxes being raised to the presidential pulpit’s ungodly preaching that people should covet what their more wealthy neighbors have (Exodus 20:17), and we’ve got the murderous practice of abortion (Exodus 20:13) promoted as though trying to do anything to slow it down is synonymous with terrorizing women, and we’ve got gun control activists convincing the suffering parents of murdered children that increased restrictions to lawful possession of firearms will somehow pursued lawless criminals to not use their illegally obtained guns for future crimes (Luke 11:21-22). It seems that our very rights and principals are at stake and we must fight for them with all of our zeal.

Be warned my friends, this is not the way to overcome the enemy of this age. If your freedom is under attack there is only one way to get it back:

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 - But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (NIV)

Resist the temptation to get caught up in complaining about evil people doing evil things. You should not be surprised by any of the evil that occurs in this world. Sinners sin. It’s just part of their nature. They can’t help it. We have put sinners in positions of power in our country, and they are doing the very things they were born to do. And the enemy is using this to distract us and keep us off balance.

Stop talking about the enemy, and start talking about the One who conquered him! Goliath wasn’t defeated by the great army of ‘God’s chosen people’ who looked at him in fear and dismay (1 Samuel 17:11). I’m sure the soldiers of Israel were brimming with complaints. “Did you see what he said?” “Did you see what he did?” “Somebody should do something about him…” But it took someone who was able to realize “…Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” to actually defeat him (1 Samuel 17:26).

Instead of complaining about how bad the enemy is, we need to stand up and defeat him. We carry the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49), the power of the gospel (Romans 1:16), and the keys of God’s Kingdom (Matthew 16:19). The army of Jesus Christ does not wield the weapon of a complaining tongue (Jude 1:16).

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 - For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. (NIV)

James :)