Love vs. Power

 

 

If there is not God, than all there is is power. 

In our day and age of virulent political activism, actors on both sides of the political aisle withing Christianity are vying for power. "If only WE could be the ones to control it, then we can institute God's vision for His Kingdom!" For either side it is either a vision for a Christian Nationalism where God's laws are almost mercilessly enforced to ensure righteousness (legalism), or another vision of the Kingdom is enforced where power is used to punish those who have held power in the past (rightly or unjustly) as a means to make up for old evils for those considered "the powerless and oppressed".

Both of these visions are wrong. 

Why?

Jesus tells Pilate in John 18:36, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” (NIV)

Christ's Kingdom is not of this world. What does that mean? It means that the way of expanding God's Kingdom here on earth does not follow the pattern of how they are built by the powers of this world.

Now, I don't disagree that it is a good thing to have followers of Christ in positions of political authority or be apart of political change. What I am saying is that if our primary goal to expand Christ's Kingdom is to focus on that, we are misguiding ourselves and building our own means of control rather than how the Kingdom of Heaven is supposed to be expanded.

Be is the Assyrians, Babylonians, Macedonians, Romans, Huns, Caliphate's, Crusaders, Holy Roman Empire, French, British, Nazi's, Soviets, Maoists, Americans or anyone else all these empires have been expanded through power and conquest.

The Kingdom of that Christ rules expands exclusively through love. The power of the Gospel that transforms even the most broken hard-hearted person is through the love of God that came down to die and rise for them. That same love that is seen through the followers of Him that love their enemies, pray for those who persecute them, and go the extra mile because of the command of their King that measures success in a different way.

So what does that mean for us today?

Nothing has really changed for how Christ has commanded His people to pursue the conquest of the world. We are to do so not through the power that others try to do so. Instead we are called to pick up our crosses, wash others feet and proclaim the Good News to a broken and dying world. It is in the power of that love that we are to take stands, and person by person will be conquered for God's Kingdom by love.