Take a look at the latest headlines and hashtags, and the messages are all about picking a side and identifying with a particular cause or affinity group. Black lives matter. Blue lives matter. All lives matter. Make America Great Again. Pro Life. Pro choice. Pro marriage. The 1 percent. The 99 percent. Stand for the flag. Take a knee. The list could go on and on.
Today’s culture wants you to pick a side. No, it demands you pick a side. It bullies you with threats of the labels racist or sellout, or apathetic if you don’t give in to its pressure. As a result, we feel guilty if we don’t speak out on matters we don’t fully understand or aren’t sure exactly where we stand. We worry if we don’t pick a side (and post that opinion on social media), our friends will think the worst of us. We might get called weak. Or uninformed, or small minded. On a good day, this breeds insecurity and hastiness, and on everyday, it causes division.
There seems to be more divisiveness, fracturing and name-calling in our society than ever before, and God hates it. There has to be another way. Well, there is. As God’s children he has called his people to stand in the Gap as Christ stood the Gap for us. He has called us to be ministers of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 says Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. God has called his people to not choose sides but to stand in the Gap and middle and pull both sides together for reconciliation.
This happens when we fight the urge to pick a side with the latest topic , social cause, or theological debate and instead fighting for unity and togetherness. It’s about learning that the culture of our cities cannot be changed by pointing fingers, rioting, and picketing events. My prayer for you the reader and for myself, is that we treat our Christian citizenship seriously and be the person that Christ has made us to be. Micah 6:8 reminds us what the Lord require of us; to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.
My mind is recalling Ezekiel 22:30 “I searched for a man among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land so that I might not destroy it, but I found no one..” Do you understand the implication here? No matter how ugly and offensive humanity’s sin is to God, He is still seeking diligently to find even the smallest excuse to extend mercy and grace. He needs just one single person who will pray and stand in the gap for the sins of another. Will you be that person, to say “I understand that hurt you, but Christ…” I realize that was insensitive, but Christ…” He has called us to find middle ground in this divided world.