As Christians, the chaos and killing around us shouldn’t surprise us if we read our Bibles as much as we should.
Frankly, I’m shocked that we’re shocked.
Now, I’m no seminary-trained theologian, but I do read my bible and ask God to give me wisdom. So here are three straightforward reasons why I think the chaos of today shouldn’t surprise Christians…
Reason #1: Chaos and rebellion is human nature apart from Christ
Anarchy, chaos, and rebellion are the very ingrained nature of us all before Jesus Christ becomes Savior of our lives.
Consider the apostle Paul. Before he had a radical, personal experience with the risen Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, he watched over the coats of those stoning Stephen. In fact, he was ON HIS WAY to persecute and arrest followers of Jesus when he was intercepted by God.
Before Christ, Paul was not only capable of the things we see in the news today. He actually DID them.
Are we surprised to hear stories of mobs throwing stones at windows and other human beings? Because the truth is, if it were not for God’s saving grace in our own lives, it’s quite possible we’d follow in Paul’s footsteps, doing the same or even worse.
God equates hating another in our own hearts with physical murder. Yet we are astounded at the hate that manifests in racism and heartbreaking murder on a city street? I’d say, based on God’s Word, that you and I, apart from Christ, are capable of the very sin (or even much worse) that we’ve seen in the tragic video of George Floyd.
As Christ followers, murder, racism, and looting should deeply grieve us. However, it should not come as a shock. These are, after all, an exposure of the dark human condition apart from Christ. And in a way, they are an exposure of ALL our hearts, were it not for the grace of Almighty God. ALL of us, apart from Christ, are capable of the very things we grieve over.
That should humble us, bringing us to our knees in prayers of gratitude for our salvation and on behalf of anyone who does not yet know Jesus as Savior.
Reason #2: Chaos is the natural result of God’s absence
Society has believed the lie that excluding God from everyday life will simply leave a religious void that will benefit us all. Not so. Even Atheists are starting to admit it.
God is the very Creator of order. He spoke and intricately systematic universes came into being. All it takes is a quick (and honest) look around. We see order in everything from flowers to the human eye, from DNA to God’s perfect design for family.
So, naturally, when society rejects God and his established, perfect order as outlined in his Word, what else can we expect but chaos?
We see that when society rejects God’s plan and structure for family, his calling for leaders to be godly and for citizens to respect authority, his 10 Commandments for loving him and our neighbors…
Really, anywhere society has shouted at God to, “Get out!” results in chaos.
And despite what many believe, God’s absence doesn’t just leave a void for disorder and chaos to enter, but for evil spiritual forces to rush in as well. Even those who hold staunch anti-religious beliefs struggle to deny the reality of evil at work in recent events.
So as society orders the Creator of order to leave, we should not be shocked to see the ruler of chaos and confusion (i.e the enemy of our souls) to enter. Spiritual forces are at work.
Reason #3: Christ foretold the chaos and offers the solution
I saw a meme the other day that said, “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the consequences of my own actions.” I laughed, because somehow, I’m still surprised when the consequences of my own actions unfold.
Jesus, as the Son of God, KNEW what was in man’s heart and he knows it today.
And Jesus made sure that, as Christians, we’d be ready for the natural consequences of sin. He did this by foretelling and warning us.
So why are we surprised by the chaos in the world when Jesus spoke of persecution, wars, earthly disasters, lawlessness, betrayal, people “falling away”, hating one another, and more? If anything, it should be confirmation that Jesus is exactly who he said he is: the Son of God.
But Jesus didn’t just foretell chaos. He offered the solution: himself.
The most comforting verse in all of scripture is, I believe, John 16:33:
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
John 16:33 (ESV)
Believer, if you’re struggling or shocked by the chaos seen in the streets of society today, even as it directly effects you, take comfort in this: Jesus isn’t. Oh, he’s grieved, as we all should be. Deeply. But he’s not surprised. He saw it in us long before we ever did.
And the good, good news is that he saw our human condition–the rebellion, chaos, confusion, and sin–and though we deserve death, still offered up his life for us as a GIFT so that we might be reconciled before God.
Why? So that what is chaos today can be redemption tomorrow…IF we repent, receive his grace and forgiveness, and place our very lives in his hands.
So, as Christians, how should we respond to the chaos?
Prayer.
I’ve heard the very society who pushed OUT God and ushered IN chaos convince Christians that prayer is the response of the cowardly who won’t take action.
Don’t believe it. PRAYER IS ACTION. Prayer is the action of those who have seen the true human condition manifest itself again and again and know that it is beyond just building understanding, nurturing communities, or social activism.
It takes our Almighty and merciful God to change hearts, heal communities, and experience radical, lasting change. And it’s done through HIS power manifested in HIS people (that’s you and me, friends).
When necessary, repent.
We must ALL take a very honest look at our long-held beliefs about other people and weigh it against the truth of God’s Word, in context.
As Christians we must ask God hard questions like “God what does your Word say about how to live as a Believer and how can I apply it?” “God, am I doing all I can to help and serve my neighbor?” “Is my life a true reflection of Jesus’ love or am I just paying lip service?” “God, am I placing my personal experiences in a higher place than your Word in my life?” “God, will you reveal my true heart to me?” “God, do I have any prejudiced ways in me?”
Whatever sin God reveals, repent. Like, now. It’s by God’s mercy he reveals our true nature to us.
Respond.
Once we’ve prayed and repented, we must actually respond appropriately, when his Word convicts us.
Resist the temptation to obey what our culture pressures you to do. Resist the temptation to judge other Christians’ convictions.
In whatever way God calls you to respond, do it in obedience to him alone. Let that alone be your conviction.
Weep with those who weep. Make the phone call. Help your neighbor. Have a tough conversation. Show care, even when it’s hard. Love those who hate you. Abandon your pride. Listen well to those who are of a different race or background from you. Humble yourself in order to learn from others. Talk to your kids about the value of every precious human life. Read God’s Word and speak its truth only if you can speak it out of love. Share.the.Gospel.
And here’s a bonus: Don’t share that scathing article on Facebook (but be sure to share this one of course!).
Jesus never called his disciples to lives of passivity and comfort. But neither did he call them to lives of mere social activism.
He called them–and he calls you and me, Christians–to lives of love contrasting a world of hate… to holiness contrasting a world of sin… to life contrasting a world of death… to freedom contrasting a world of bondage… to salvation contrasting a world of destruction… to unity contrasting a world of discord… to supernatural peace contrasting a world of war… to Christian confidence contrasting a world of fear…to hope contrasting a world of despair…
and to a sound spirit contrasting a world of chaos.
Human nature again and again reveals itself in times like this. This is not just a time to “be better”. It’s an opportunity for our nation to repent, turning from our wicked ways and rejection of the God who loves us and sent his Son to die for us.
Apart from Christ, this is overwhelmingly impossible.
But take heart. For with God, all things are possible. Let’s pray for the impossible today.
How is God calling you to respond to the chaos? Comment below.
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Absolutely agree. 100%. We have no hope apart from Christ! But thanks be to God that we can have hope, peace, and LIFE in Christ because of Christ!
Amen, Emily! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Leah,
Your reflection captures the essence of the challenge every follower of Christ faces. By God’s Grace we have His Spirit to empower our witness. One of my favorite writers, as I have mentioned, is Dorothy Sayers. I share this quote…
Official Christianity, of late years, has been having what is known as a bad press. We are constantly assured that the churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine—dull dogma as people call it. The fact is the precise opposite. It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man—and the dogma is the drama.
That drama is summarized quite clearly in the creeds of the Church, and if we think it dull it is because we either have never really read those amazing documents or have recited them so often and so mechanically as to have lost all sense of their meaning. The plot pivots upon a single character, and the whole action is the answer to a single central problem: What think ye of Christ?
The man we hanged was God Almighty.
. . . The Church’s answer is categorical and uncompromising, and it is this: that Jesus Bar-Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth, was in fact and in truth, and in the most exact and literal sense of the words, the God “by whom all things were made.” His body and brain were those of a common man; his personality was the personality of God, so far as that personality could be expressed in human terms. He was not a kind of demon pretending to be human; he was in every respect a genuine living man. He was not merely a man so good as to be “like God”— he was God.
Now, this is not just a pious commonplace; it is not a commonplace at all. For what it means is this, among other things: that for whatever reason God chose to make man as he is—limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death—he [God] had the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine. Whatever game he is playing with his creation, he has kept his own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that he has not exacted from himself. He has himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When he was a man, he played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile. . . .
Possibly we might prefer not to take this tale too seriously—there are disquieting points about it. Here we had a man of divine character walking and talking among us—and what did we find to do with him? The common people, indeed, “heard him gladly”; but our leading authorities in Church and State considered that he talked too much and uttered too many disconcerting truths. So we bribed one of his friends to hand him over quietly to the police, and we tried him on a rather vague charge of creating a disturbance, and had him publicly flogged and hanged on the common gallows, “thanking God we were rid of a knave.” All this was not very creditable to us, even if he was (as many people thought and think) only a harmless, crazy preacher. But if the Church is right about him, it was more discreditable still, for the man we hanged was God Almighty.
So that is the outline of the official story—the tale of the time when God was the underdog and got beaten, when he submitted to the conditions he had laid down and became a man like the men he had made, and the men he had made broke him and killed him. This is the dogma we find so dull—this terrifying drama of which God is the victim and hero.
I am blessed to have such a wonderful daughter.
Thanks and much love,
Dad