Reframe the World
If the modern world is making you crazy, maybe you need to adopt God's point of view.
The modern world is a mess. Every generation probably says that at one time or another, but I’m 50+ years old and the world today seems worse than at any other time in my life.
THEM
I used to be an avid reader of the news. Lately, it’s increasingly difficult to stomach. Everybody seems to have lost their minds. I have a limit to the amount of crazy that I can cope with on any given day, and the modern world stepped over that line and kept on running a few years ago.
But the worst part is, I know who did it. THEY did it. You know. THEM.
Whatever your worldview, you can find a THEM. If you are X, THEY are Y. Just fill in the template. If you are a Democrat, THEY are the Republicans. If you are a conservative, THEY are the progressives. If you are pro-vax, THEY are anti-vax. If you are anti-lockdown, THEY are pro-lockdown. If you are poor, THEY are rich. And on and on.
I hate those people. THEY are so stupid! It’s so obvious that X is right and Y is wrong! Why can’t THEY see that? I can’t live in the same country as THEM! I can’t live in the same state! No, not the same city! I can’t live next-door! I can’t sit down with THEM for Thanksgiving dinner any more, even though THEY are my family. Even though THEY were my friends.
Did you realize that the same sort of factionalism that exists today also existed back in Jesus’s day? That shouldn’t be surprising. The Bible is clear that nothing is truly new. Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NIV) says, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”
In Jesus’s day:
Jews hated the Romans.
Romans hated the Jews.
Jews hated the Samaritans.
Samaritans hated the Jews.
Nobody wanted to be around the lepers.
And everybody hated the tax collectors.
And on and on. There were factions upon factions, everybody with a grievance, everybody with some disagreeable history.
God’s Framing
Into this world comes Jesus, God in human form. And He just rejects all of it. When the disciples and Pharisees and religious leaders and even Pilate interact with him, Jesus makes is clear that God doesn’t consider any of these human divisions relevant.
The Jews want a king to overthrow the Romans. Jesus says he’s a king, but has no intention of leading a revolution against the Romans. When asked by Pilate, he says that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). When the Pharisees try to trap him by asking about whether the Jews should be paying Roman taxes, he amazes them by responding that they should give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s (Mark 12:13-17). Throughout the gospels, He reaches out to Samaritans, lepers, and tax collectors, people despised by his own Jewish people. In fact, Jesus doesn’t reject anybody, though he does take the Pharisees and religious leaders to task for their hypocrisy on many occasions.
So, what does God see when he looks at the world, either during the time of Jesus or in our modern time? Does he see the factions that we see? In a word, no.
Instead, God sees a sea of humans that He created in His image, all of whom He loves, but all of whom have sinned and in the process rejected Him, and, therefore, all of whom are now “the walking dead,” alive in the world today but subject to eternal judgement and death in the future.
Through Jesus, God established his eternal kingdom here on earth.
And in the process God started to divide that sea of humanity into two groups:
Those who are now part of the kingdom.
Those who are not yet part of the kingdom (also known as the World).
If you’re a disciple of Jesus, you’re in the first group. You’re part of the kingdom, a princess or prince. Jesus pulled you out of the world, redeemed you, and set you apart for the good works that God prepared in advance for you to do (Ephesians 2:10).
If you’re not a disciple of Jesus, you’re in the second group. You’re the walking dead. But God wants you to be part of the first group, which is why he sent Jesus to give his life as a ransom for yours.
Here’s the difficult part, however. The folks in the second group, those in the World, hate the first group, those who follow Jesus. Jesus was clear about that (see John 15:18-25): the World hates Him, and by extension His disciples.
Here’s the big idea: If you are tired of the division in the world, you need to reframe your worldview and adopt God’s point of view.
Remember THEM? In the World’s framing, you just might be right about THEM. THEY probably are guilty of all that you think THEY have done. THEY probably deserve scorn, prosecution, or some other form of judgement. I’m not here to tell you that THEY didn’t do it.
But if you accept God’s framing, then THEY are your brothers and sisters, created in His image, dead in their sins because they don’t yet know Him. THEY are not to be hated; THEY are to be forgiven, in the same way you were.
Remember that you were just like THEM before you believed on Jesus as your savior. You were an enemy of God, lost in your own sin.
And because you’re now a part of God’s Kingdom, God wants you to engage with those who are still in the World, those still lost, and bring them to Him. Jesus gave you an explicit command in the Great Commission to expand His kingdom:
18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Your Real Enemy
The only enemy you really have is Satan. He is a liar who seeks to destroy you and your relationship with God :
“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
He wants to make sure that you never become part of God’s Kingdom. If you are already part of God’s Kingdom, he wants you depressed, demoralized, and worried about all the wrong things so that you won’t lead anybody else to God’s Kingdom.
That’s it. Neither God nor Satan are Democrats, Republicans, vaxers, anti-vaxers, blacks, whites, woke, LGBT, etc. Neither of them care about those things. God only wants to save as many people for his Kingdom as he can, and Satan only cares about denying God those very same people.
Every Problem is a Spiritual Problem
The people on this earth, bad as they can often be, are not your enemies. Even when they’re persecuting you, even when they are killing you. They are all made in the image of God and He loves each and every one of them.
Does that mean that we should just ignore these issues, that we should just let THEM win? Am I advocating for surrender on all points?
No, to be clear, I’m not. Christians need to participate in society and advance the goals and laws that are rooted in the strong moral foundation of the Bible. Christians need to protect themselves and their families from crime and violence. Christians need to use their voice.
But what that voice says should be grounded in God’s point of view about those we might be in conflict with. You will not encounter a human being that is not made in the image of God. Can’t happen. You will not encounter a human being that is not loved by God. You will not encounter a human being that God does not long to bring into his Kingdom, that He would not sacrifice His one and only Son for. And so he did.
At the end of the day, we need to view every problem in the world as a spiritual problem. Simply put, if everybody was part of God’s Kingdom, things would be a whole lot better in every way. Until Jesus calls us all home, we’ll still have disagreement, even among Christians, but think about a place where everybody lives like the most faithful and honorable Christian you’ve ever encountered. Think of the love. Think of the forgiveness. Think of the support. It would start to look a lot like God’s Kingdom, because it would be God’s Kingdom.
So, keep God’s point of view in mind when you’re consuming the news, when you’re dealing with friends, neighbors, and relatives. The person up in your grill is not your enemy.
Note that this is part 1 of a multi-part series. Find part 2 here:
Who in your world needs to hear this message? Is there somebody that needs your forgiveness? Who can you talk to about Jesus and the miracle of his sacrifice?
As always, please leave me a comment with your thoughts. Like this post. Share it with anybody in your social circle that needs to hear it.
I agree with everything you said here except that unbelievers are our 'brother and sisters'. In Matthew 12:48-50 :He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” The unbeliever is made in the image of God, and has potential to become a child of the Father... and hence our brother and sisters. Right now, they are lost, just as I was. We pray that the Lord would give us eyes to see people as He sees them; to empower us to be witnesses to His gracious and merciful gift of redemption and freedom, to 'belonging'. I want for all people to come to Christ, but He is the One that draws them. Pray for open hearts.
Just curious. Doesn't Jesus say something about how you might as well tie a millstone around your neck as hurt one of the little ones? That does not sound like love or forgiveness. What do you think?