Guard your lens, heart, and allegiances


Guard your lens. Guard your heart. Guard your allegiances. 

All humans have a lens that we view our world through. Nobody is immune to this. Our worldview is shaped by forces that are often outside our control for a time, until we are made aware of them. Becoming aware of our own lenses and biases is a key practice in life. A heart of "repentance" is an inner turnaround - an admission that our worldview and lens are not aligned with Jesus and our intent is to change, and realign our hearts and lives. Church - many of us have some repenting to do.

Statistics overwhelmingly show that the same political divide that is splitting our nation, which has accelerated dramatically since 2004 according to Gallup, is also splitting the church. What this shows is that our culture is effectively discipling Christians. If we view our world through the lens of partisan politics, we are following the path of human empires - we become unintentional agents of Babylon. A believer with a Jesus-kingdom lens is not driven by the whims and motives of elected officials that attempt to drive the narrative. They will disagree, they will need to discuss things, they will not always land in the same place (the early church sure didn't). but they are united under the banner of Christ, not under a donkey or elephant. 

Some of us have been bamboozled because some people in power have told us what our itching ears want to hear. One side may appear to foster Christian-like values, but beware! Be wary of any wholesale commitment to the agents and agendas of the governments of this world - even our own. Always, always, keep your discerning eyes wide open. I'm not advocating an abandonment of government - far from it! Only that careful discernment needs to be employed.

Church - we have a kingdom and a King. We have a government, and it rests upon Christ's shoulders. This is not to say that a Christian should not be involved in local government- after all, we have been left here to be ambassadors for the kingdom of God and we should be responsible citizens. Be involved in the party of your choice! Vote your convictions. If they happen to be primarily on one side of the isle, so be it! Yet, when a Christian champions a cause that is Christ-like but doesn't align with a party, they are accused of being "radical conservative" or "radical liberal". Issues don't bundle like a McDonald's value meal - they are much more complex and diverse than our partisan parties would have us believe. 

When we confuse our identity as "this party" or "that party" we are abandoning the greater picture and are in danger of putting ourselves at the whim of the principalities and powers of this present evil age. Christian - you are a blood-bought child of the living God and are royalty in God's kingdom. You are already on the winning side. Don't give in to fear and trust human-made systems to bring salvation. God has already triumphed and Jesus has assigned you and I to be his ambassadors - not using the weapons and tools of Babylon, but using the armor that comes from a Spirit-filled life. 

With all my love ❤ Mike

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