It\u2019s a contentious time we live in.\u00a0 Feelings are running hot.\u00a0 So certain are we that WE ALONE know how to make everything better.<\/p>\n
For those who recognize Jesus as Lord the commandment is to be one, a call for unity among his followers.\u00a0And yet there is so much that we divide over.\u00a0 Mostly things that fall under our own understanding, which we are NOT to rely on.<\/p>\n
In the United States, especially, we let politics divide us. We may choose to work<\/em> with one group or another, hoping to contribute.\u00a0 But if we choose sides, if we declare we are on THIS side and THIS side alone is right, well, we are forgetting the lesson Joshua learned outside of Jericho.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>\u2026Joshua was there near Jericho: He looked up and saw right in front of him a man standing, holding his drawn sword. Joshua stepped up to him and said, \u201cWhose side are you on\u2014ours or our enemies\u2019?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n (Are you a Republican or a Democrat?\u00a0Libertarian or Green Party?)<\/p>\n He said, \u201cNeither. I\u2019m commander of\u00a0God\u2019s army. I\u2019ve just arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n Joshua fell, face to the ground, and worshiped. He asked, \u201cWhat orders does my Master have for his servant?\u201d<\/p>\n God\u2019s army commander ordered Joshua, \u201cTake your sandals off your feet. The place you are standing is holy.\u201d<\/p>\n Joshua did it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Joshua was the leader of the people of Israel.\u00a0 He was being led by God to take the promised land after 40 years of wandering in the desert.\u00a0He clearly felt confident that he was right. He was sure he was on the right side.\u00a0 Israelites = Good Guys, Everybody Else = Bad Guys.<\/p>\n But who is this fellow with a sword?\u00a0 On whose side is he?\u00a0 My side?\u00a0Or the Enemies\u2019 side?<\/p>\n Neither.<\/p>\n Neither.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The Guy with the Sword was the commander of the Lord\u2019s Army.<\/p>\n And he was on neither side.<\/p>\n Why?<\/p>\n Because the only side he would take up is God\u2019s.\u00a0 The only side to be beside is God\u2019s.<\/p>\n And don\u2019t imagine that God is on your\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>side.<\/p>\n Because it only takes a moment.<\/p>\n Just a moment of self, of our own understanding, our own will, to remove us as far from God\u2019s side as is possible.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t move.<\/p>\n But when we choose a side that is any side other than the Lord\u2019s side- and he is not on the side of any political party or human cause, though occasionally a political party or human cause may <\/em>be on the Lord\u2019s side-\u00a0When we choose any side other than the Lord himself we become the de facto enemy of God.<\/p>\n So be careful how you choose.<\/p>\n It is not us against them, with God on our side.\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t choose sides.<\/p>\n But he does invite you to choose him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s a contentious time we live in.\u00a0 Feelings are running hot.\u00a0 So certain are we that WE ALONE know how to make everything better. For those who recognize Jesus as Lord the commandment is to be one, a call for unity among his followers.\u00a0And yet there is so much that we divide over.\u00a0 Mostly things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2O0qX-kH","jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/my-glasses1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1283"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1285,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions\/1285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}