Our Personal War

Imagine a group of friends standing around talking with each other. The conversation is lively, light, and loud. Everyone in the group wants to have their say.

Then a stranger enters the group. Judging by the intense conversation of the group, the stranger concludes that the topic of their conversation is important. With eager anticipation to be a part of such conservation, the stranger asks the group what they're talking about.

But the group becomes annoyed with the stranger because his innocent question revealed that their conversation was about nothing significant at all. Shooting the breeze. Nothing more.

This is not unlike the reaction that happens when God's kids query the world's conversation with the hope of becoming participants. The strangers to God become annoyed. The intruder unmasks the insignificance of their conversation. No one likes to be showed up. The intruder is unwelcome.

The real annoyance isn't with the stranger or the intruder but with God himself. We seldom talk about it or admit it, but we are at war with God. Our ultimate conflict is not with one another, not even with our different political, religious, philosophical, and world views. Our ultimate conflict is with God.

We take God too lightly. To borrow Bonhoeffer's term, we're addicted to cheap grace. We get worked up over things that don't matter and ignore the weightier things that ultimately matter. We trouble ourselves with issues we can't fix and ignore the issues we can fix. We keep God at arms length.

We take sin too lightly. Repentance means "My bad." "We all make mistakes." "No one is perfect." The Old Testament root for repentance means "to breathe with difficulty," signifying sighing, groaning, moaning, grieving over our personal sin.

Little wonder Jesus cut the conversation about political unrest short with these unwelcome words: "But unless you repent, you too will all perish" (Luke 13:3).

Paul wrote, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation" (2 Corinthians 7:10). David cried out for forgiveness: "Have mercy, O God, according to your unfailing love" (Psalm 51:1).

Our personal war with God stops and peace is restored when we repent. 1. We own our personal sin. 2. We grieve over it's filth. 3. We appeal for mercy and forgiveness.

Only when we "produce fruit in keeping with repentance" will our war with God cease and our hearts and minds come under the rule of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.