There is no Neutral

A few days ago I was listening to NPR Radio and they had a woman talking about her experience standing between protesters and police. She talked about the idea of gathering mothers to stand between the protesters and the police.

The thought was that the mothers weren’t there to protest, but to act as a buffer between the federal police and the protesters, hoping to keep the police from taking action against the protesters, they called it “The Wall of Mom’s.”

I mean, everyone has a mother, right? As I listened to her tell her story I imagined the forces of darkness attacking the children of God and between Satan and God’s children were a group of warriors standing in harms way. That is what I was thinking, but she continued and she said that they thought that this would keep the peace. She was mistaken, she thought that there was a third side to this confrontation, a neutral, peaceful side found in the love of a mother.

To her surprise, the federal agents threw a flash bang at the line of mothers, blinding and disorienting them. Then came the tear gas. She described going blind from the gas and vomiting and urinating on herself. She couldn’t believe that this was happening as the police swarmed in. [picture] She heard people yell, “Run, don’t let them get you!” But she was blind and couldn’t run. A man came to her and told her to close her mouth and poured a baking soda mixture into her eyes to wash out the gas so she could see and flee.

She went on to describe how she felt when she came home and her daughter seeing her at the front door. She felt at first terrified that her daughter would see her covered in her own vomit and urine. She went on to say, “This only gave me more power and I knew that I had to go back out there again. We were standing for what was right, we were doing this in the name of democracy.”

I felt compassion for her because she thought that they as mothers would be exempt from the force of the police. She learned quickly, that there wasn’t a neutral side to this battle. If she wasn’t with the police then she was with the protesters.

When she said, “In the name of democracy.” I thought, we as Christian’s also have a name that we do things in. But she didn’t mention that name.

She didn’t mention the name that is above all names. A name that we as believers can rely on and in.

It is in the name of Jesus, that those who call Him Savior are called to Live in and Fight for. In this issue of protesters, rioters, good police, bad police and lives that matter, we must behave like Jesus behaved. His Word has told us that the battle doesn’t occur on city streets, but in the heavenly places, in the unseen spirit world (Ephesians 6:12).

The fight begins in the spirit realm but doesn’t end there. We must stand up against injustice in our communities but with humility and love. The United States Constitution grants us “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”¹

As believers in Jesus, we must pray and peacefully petition our government for justice. We must condemn violence on both sides of the issue and seek God for our nation’s healing (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Do you feel like our nation is out of control? Do you feel afraid of the future, because there is so much uncertainty?

Don’t worry, you are experiencing what is real and you are feeling the right feelings. God has created us to be emotional people and has made our minds to respond with emotions like anger, frustration and despair.

Yet, God doesn’t want us to stay in those feelings. He is able to give you peace even while you are feeling those emotions. You can have calm in the chaos. You can have peace in the middle of war and you can have joy in the middle of painful experiences.

Jesus has promised to give those positive emotions to those that trust in Him for their earthly and heavenly future. And you can have those “peace in the middle of storm” moments by praying to Jesus and asking Him for peace. The Bible is His main source of communication to humanity and if you take some time to read it, you will see how peace in the middle of all these problems is possible.

Prayer

Jesus, thank You for understanding what it means to live in chaos. Your life was filled with people looking to take away your rights, to find ways to make Your life miserable and even, seeking to take Your life.

You understand first hand what we are experiencing and yet, You had joy (Hebrews 12:2). The pain of the cross wasn’t the joy, the joy was in all those that would experience your love and forgiveness. The joy of bringing comfort to those who look at a chaotic world and say, “I trust you, Jesus, to see us through.” Thank You for your life. Thank You for being my God and for seeing our nation through to a place of healing.

Scriptures on Peace

Philippians 4:6-7, Proverbs 16:7, Isaiah 26:3, John 14:27, John 16:33, Leviticus 26:6, Psalm 4:8, Luke 1:79, Romans 8:6, 2 Corinthians 13:11