Walking Wounded

This morning I was talking with a man that said something pretty profound. He asked me how our church services went on Sunday and I responded fantastic. We had new people visiting and even some people who had never really been to church before coming in and responding to the altar call. He then proceeded to ask, why is it that Christians are so bad about cannibalism? With a puzzled look on my face, he continued. You know Christians have a bad habit of eating their own. As I thought for a moment, I replied it is sad but we do have lots of walking wounded in our churches. 

Why is that the case? It seems that no matter what the church size may be or how diverse the congregations, we seem to wound those that are supposed to be standing with us. I believe that it is the enemies number one battle plan to attack churches from the inside out. In the military, it's called friendly fire.   Innocent people get into the crossfire and are wounded. 

What causes walking wounded? 

1. Not Knowing Our Enemy Many people are quick to pick up a cause. In every disagreement there are sides to every story. When we are not familiar with the enemy and his tactics, we can easily pick up a live grenade or step in the middle of a landline. We must be on guard of what we say and how we step. Seek God first and defuse the bombs the enemy would have you fall victim to. Communicate with each other. Follow Matthew chapter 18 for the proper model of conflict resolution so you can avoid the live grenade of gossip and slander. Side step the landline of negativity and instead pick up the standard of righteousness. 

2. Improper Use Of A Weapon Our military is the most well trained force on the planet. We spend time on tactical things that other countries wish they could. We have advanced weapon training and every soldier knows how to use his weapon to the best of its ability. We as Christians should be the same way but we don't. We are quick to unload both barrels and pull the pin of righteous indignation and explode all over someone leaving them staggering if not dead from the onslaught. Bible verses quoted out of context, false self righteousness, and forced holiness. Instead of restoring people gently, we restore them with extreme prejudice. 

3. Putting Our Armor On Someone Else In scripture we read that King Saul placed his heavy armor on David and then David rejected the armor of the king and took what he knew and went out to defeat the giant. It is easy for us to become judgmental and say because you don't look or act like me, you can't possibly be saved. We are placing our armor on someone else and it will NOT fit. 

We must stop the friendly fire. The phenomenon of walking wounded is destroying the church and its credibility. How can we be a witness for Christ and be his message when we are fighting among ourselves. We must strive for more. Uplifting and edification are just two things church is supposed to do. Yes correction is in the list but in the right context and process. 

Pretty interesting thoughts.