Hello!
From time to time I'll receive questions from those God has blessed me with the opportunity to serve.
Recently I received another thoughtful question from someone regarding how we as followers of Christ should respond to current events going on in our world.
My response isn't "profound" by any means and others may have a different perspective on this, but, I thought it might be an encouragement to you in some way and a starting point as you seek The Lord for similar things. So, with the permission of the person who asked the question, and with their name omitted, here is the question and prayerful answer.
Your Brother and Servant in Christ,
Randolph Koch
Question:
"Hello brother in Christ. I have an honest question. No underlying motive in asking, just looking for an honest answer on your perspective. As a man who appears to be grounded in Biblical truth as far as I can tell through what you post, what is your stance on America's current state and the church's, the body of Christ, needed response in light of all that is going on? Are we being too "quiet", too fearful, are we speaking up as we should into the myriad of issues? It seems there is much, "mixed", for lack of a better word, response from the church. Do we need to be a bit more fierce, is there too much fear of man in the church as a whole? Ok more than one question and they are some loaded questions lol."
Answer:
Let me share some thoughts and a link with hope it will help answer your question in part and help you seek out The Lord for the rest.
As I've been praying and thinking about it, I'm reminded that not everything the culture does, (or even other believers) is always right and it's not always wrong. Not everything we can involve ourselves with is necessarily good either.
I think about the tension in, 1 Corinthians 10:23 and 1 Corinthians 6:12 where God's Word reminds us that some things are permissible but not everything is beneficial.
There may be a few ways to approach this but I really believe we have to start by seeking God through His Word and prayer first. We might ask ourselves:
"Am I responding Biblically by seeking Him first or am I responding purely
based on emotions, feelings or maybe peer / cultural pressure?"
We have to determine if God has really instructed us as individuals to do something we think we're supposed to do.
Now, if someone is in danger, obviously if you can help, you would try to help but all the stuff going on right now isn't necessarily the same thing and what's going on now, all the more requires wisdom or it should, in our decision making.
Same with clear or even perceived injustices, (this statement isn't a commentary on current events) sometimes it may feel like a "no-brainer" to some but it's not always that cut and dry.
We need to respond with wisdom based on facts, good information, and from a place of faith.
Many are just responding from their own emotions or how they think the culture wants them to respond, (or let's be honest, some want to somehow be liked by or accepted by the culture no matter what God says).
However, as followers of Christ, our lives, decisions, actions, and motives and more should be Christ centered, Biblically grounded, and Spirit led.
We also need to consider that He may lead others to do things, act on things, or get involved with things that He may not lead us to.
We have to keep Him in the center of all we do. We have to seek to glorify Him and not ourselves or others.
Here's a link to an article that I shared a while back that may be of help.
Thanks for reaching out and I pray that what I shared here and the linked article, will be of help to you.
Keep seeking Him with all that is within you and He will direct your path because...seeking Him first and foremost is THE starting point for us as followers of Christ.
We need to seek Him first and foremost before we act, especially during this tumultuous season.
Your Brother and Servant in Christ,
Randolph Koch
P.S. There are only two weeks left! Please prayerfully help me with my first ever fundraiser for my little ministry. Please share this small fundraiser with your church family and friends. Please help A Shepherd's Heart meet the goal of it's first ever fundraiser.
Here's the link to the main fundraiser site: www.fundly.com/a-shepherd-s-heart-2020-fundraiser
Or here are 3 other options to help in this friends helping a friend fundraiser:
You can use Cash App and send your gift to user name $ashepherdsheart or if you haven't used Cash App before, if you use this link https://cash.app/app/GHCJWXG we'll both receive $5! :-)
Use PayPal sending to giving@ashepherdsheart.org.
Use PayPal's Venmo app by sending to @ashepherdsheart
You're continued prayers and sharing this fundraiser with friends and family would be greatly appreciated!
No comments:
Post a Comment