I think our attitude on war has changed. In Genesis 14, everyone was at war. Heck, when one of the kings captures Lot, Abram gets 300 soldiers and "goes to war" against that king. War seemed to be a natural part of expanding the land you owned.
And I have to admit, I've got a little war in me. When I read the Psalms about punishing my enemies, I don't cringe. There is definitely a part of me that wants to see the people who don't like me suffer or to see bad things happen to them. I would never do anything physically (too much of a wimp), but I think a lot of the anger that builds up inside of me is from people who have hurt me and wanting to see them hurt.
I guess there's also a part of me that wants to expand my territory. There's part of me that wants more power, more respect, more popularity....just more!
And I guess that was the root of the problem back in Old Testament days. People were willing to do anything for what they thought was important. Power, respect, Cash.
Then Jesus comes along and reminds us what is really important, and He also says to be willing to do anything to get it. But, His list includes people. That's it! That, He might even say, is willing to go to "war" over.
No comments:
Post a Comment