Ready to Fight?


	Giving Up The Fight in Church.

		One Sunday morning, our son, Andrew, came down the stairs and announced he was ready for church. He had dressed in the clothes we had set out for him and had his Bible with him, but, for whatever reason, he also decided to wear his boxing gloves! Now, he had no one person in mind when he put the gloves on; he was just thinking about how cool they were and decided to bring them with him. When we saw him, it made us laugh and stop to take a picture. Unfortunately, many people do go to church with their boxing gloves on, looking for a fight. Perhaps it is someone who is angered by a decision the church leadership made. Perhaps someone who feels betrayed or ignored by the pastor or just someone who refuses to be seen with another brother or sister in Christ. Even in those instances when the feelings of distrust, dislike, and perhaps even hatred are justified, we have to remember that when we hold on to our differences, past hurts or personal grudges we are telling God that these things are more important to us than He is. If we all are truly followers of Christ, then we are all part of the same family and we will be spending eternity together. The Bible tells us to go to someone whom we have wronged and to not only forgive those who have wronged us, but to turn the other cheek. This, basically, covers every situation. When we call ourselves believers, and choose to hold on to a grudge, no matter how well deserved it is, what are we saying about the integrity and intelligence of God? Shouldn’t God have the right to treat us the same way for the times we have wronged Him? Do you really believe that He is not telling us the truth when He says He forgives us, or that He is either too naive or too stupid to know that He shouldn’t forgive us? Remember the parable of the unforgiving servant? His master was willing to forgive the servant of a great debt and in return for this generosity, that servant threw someone who owed him money into prison. Needless to say, the master took exception to this behavior and chose to have the unforgiving servant pay for his actions. Unless we wish to be the unforgiving servant in our Master’s eyes, we need to practice forgiveness of others.


	So, like Andrew had to do that morning, we need to take off the gloves before we go to church. We need to ask God for the grace to forgive along with the strength to love those who have hurt us. It is not easy, but it is what He asks us to do, and the only ones who refuse to do the work of the master is someone who is not his servant.






		Craig and Carol Lynn Rucin are serving with Pioneers in Szczecinek, Poland to assist the local church with evangelism and to help facilitate a church planting movement, both in the Western Pomerania region and throughout Poland. If you would like more information about their team or about the country of Poland, go to pioneerspl.org.