I hope my Christian friends, and family will take the time to read this blog, and understand where I'm coming from, because in this present day, I sense hopelessness within the Church. I am not speaking to the wicked, because that is the job of the Holy Spirit. I'm not warning the evildoers, for they have already been warned. I want to talk to my Christian brothers, and sisters. We have to be very careful about how we (Christians) carry ourselves in the face of dissent, and even outright aggression. It is too easy to allow the hostility towards all things Christian to be viewed as criticism of ourselves. God's admonishment through the Psalmist David is just as true today, as it was then. Power is an illusion.
The wicked, and the evildoer expend their energy, and resources on those things that will fade upon their deaths. Even if they try to leave an inheritance to their children, it is quickly consumed, or stolen. If we take a stroll through history, we find those who had real power, never took it's mantle upon them. Real power is not measured in what you can take to yourself, but in what you can give away. If at the end of this life you are empty of all that you possessed, you've exercised ultimate power. The promise of Psalms 37 is implied and hidden within the obvious. The wicked, and evildoers are grass, and herbs. They get mowed down and wither. There is another scripture, Isaiah 61:3 that tells us that those who trust in God shall be 'trees of righteousness.' It is a vivid comparison. The wicked may have their day in the sun, the powerful may breathe their hatred for life, but the righteous will endure. Our greatest concern for the wicked, and the powerful should be prayerful concern. Our greatest evil toward them should be to love their souls while they are yet breathing, and able to repent.
Sadly, it is all too easy to become impassioned at the things we see the wicked getting by with. We can be tricked into feeling that God doesn't see the things they do, nor is He just in letting them prosper while we suffer. We can be trapped into breathing out hatred, slander, and innuendo, which have nothing to do with being Christ like at all. Do the powerful do dumb things? YES! Do the wicked live out lives of happiness while here on this earth? YES! Do the evildoers escape temporal judgement? YES!
BUT, they don't escape eternal judgment. Eternity awaits!
King David is remembered far more than the evil kings who surrounded him. He has left an eternal mark upon the history of mankind. Even more, he has left his mark upon the eternal course of life through his Son Jesus.
Psalms 37:3 puts it in the same light as Jesus did Matthew chapter six. All of the sermon on the mount is about trusting God even in the midst of powerlessness. It is about believing and trusting in what God said. Then comes the admonishment: "and do good." It is that simple. Trust God, and do good. Jesus said that we have to 'do the things He said.' If in our moral, or righteous indignation, we begin to hate, we are no better than the powerful who rely on themselves. Our fire, and desire for judgment become a trap. I don't agree with all that is done in government, business, and in society as a whole, but if I wish evil upon those who I perceive as wicked, I become trapped in wickedness myself. I prefer to let God be the judge. I prefer Him, because I know He is more merciful than I could ever be. I prefer God to judge because I know he judged me worthy of His Son, and made a way for me to be redeemed when I was more wicked than any of those I judge.
This last week, our church packed over 900 boxes for Operation Christmas Child, in a small corner of those boxes, in some small way, my heart will be carried to a small child who has never known the love of Christ. I believe in the small things. I believe in the tender touches that have no way to be returned. I believe in doing things for which there is no way for me to realize monetary gain, or to be applauded for what I did. I prefer for my left hand not to know what the right hand is doing, lest my mind begin to be puffed up. Somewhere in this world a little child will open a shoebox filled with love, and I will have realized the greatest power of all, the power to make a child smile. That is the power of love.
Power is an illusion, LOVE is real.
