Priorities

 I’m not about to jump into this because it’s not my fight. That said, if people on either side were as passionate about Jesus as they are about defending their position regarding the shape of the earth, we’d be cooking with rocket fuel. That we allow such things to bring division to the body of Christ shows our level of immaturity, and if this is the best we’ve got, when the devil starts throwing some persecution into the mix and focusing on the church exclusively, mass casualties will be the best we could hope for.

It seems as though every other day, there’s some new thing that is used as a wedge to separate believers from other believers because the enemy knows that the more isolated you are, the easier of a target you will make.

We’re watching people lose their cool in real time over what was supposed to be a brotherly debate over an issue that has become contentious all of a sudden, as though if you were living a life of surrender and obedience to God and fell on the wrong side of this one issue, you’d be barred from the halls of heaven forevermore.

But you don’t get it, brother Mike, this is really important. It may be important to you; I’m not disputing that, but is it as important to God? I’m old enough to remember the head-covering battle royals of my country and how divisive that issue became. The first division was whether a woman’s hair could be her head covering, not requiring an actual piece of cloth. Once those two teams were firmly set against each other, it bisected from there into myriad niches and interpretations.

Even among those who agreed that head coverings were biblical, there were micro factions that insisted it must be tied in the front and not the back, it must be a specific size, and it shouldn’t draw the eye with colors or other such unholy vestiges like landscapes or sunrises. Some even went so far as to insist the sisters wear the coverings to bed since the presence of angels could take place at any moment. Once you’re off on a tangent, it’s easy to spiral.

They took one thing that is arguably debatable as far as biblical foundation is concerned, then went about creating laws upon laws that were nowhere to be found in the Word of God.

I don’t care what the topic is; if it takes the focus off Jesus and becomes its own competing pursuit, it’s wrong and unbiblical. Yes, even prophecy, because I’ve known people who were so consumed with prophecy that they’d neglected their relationship with Christ to the point of no longer spending time in fellowship with Him.

If we’re at each other’s throats over this, how will we react when there is a constant drone of Here is the Christ, or There is the Christ, and you have to tell people it’s not really Him and that He warned us as much.

The deception’s just begun, and it will ramp up exponentially. Our singular focus must be Jesus, learning to know His voice, hear His voice, and obey His voice.

We’re not watching for the things Jesus said we should be watching for, we’re not doing the things Jesus said we should be doing, but we are gung-ho about scratching at each other over something that will not determine in the least whether you spend eternity in His presence, or the outer darkness.

Somehow, we’ve gone from he who is not against us is on our side to if you don’t agree with me on every issue, tangential and tertiary as it might be, then you are Ichabod, and there is no redemption for you. By the way, that whole he who is not against us is for us thing was said by Jesus, in case anyone was wondering.

But it’s important to me! Samson’s hair was important to him, but he didn’t make a doctrine out of long hair. Not everyone was required to take the Nazarite vow just because Samson had. We’re taking personal convictions and broadening them as general doctrine for everyone, then weaving in the notion of our personal conviction being a salvific issue to boot.

What is doctrine has been established. Salvific issues are clearly defined in the Word of God. Why are we so intent on looking for more and more things to divide us?

If we’re both standing in front of a painting of flowers no more than two feet apart, we will have a different perspective and see it from a different angle, but we can both agree that it’s a painting of flowers. If I’m seeing flowers and you’re seeing elephants, then one of us needs to get their eyes checked.

I don’t think today’s average Christian appreciates just how bad it’s going to get in this world, or if they do have an inkling, they’ve been convinced they won’t be here for any of it. When Jesus said those days would be shortened for the elect’s sake, it was not because they ate too much pie and had upset tummies.

And that’s another thing: the reality that those days will be shortened for the elect’s sake is the Gordian knot that no one’s been able to untie or explain away. If we’re not here, why does it matter how bad things get? If we’re not present, why would those days be shortened for our sake?

This world is about to be shaken like a snow globe in the grip of someone in the throes of an epileptic seizure. Rather than focus on being spiritually ready for that eventuality, here we are, trying to poke each other in the eye with sharp sticks for no other reason than to defend our position.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.