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“The Fighting Spirit”
On the southwest corner of a courthouse square in a small midwestern town, three churches occupy three corners of the intersection. Each pastor posts the next Sunday’s sermon title on the sign in front of the church. One Monday morning the Presbyterian pastor’s title said, “The Kingdom of God.” Later that morning, the Methodist pastor put up his sermon title: “Enter the Kingdom Here.” That afternoon, the Baptist pastor, whose church was between the other two, posted his title: “Main Entrance.”
Ah yes – the spirit of competition! I imagine most find such distasteful. And certainly, such displays are quite rare in our day and age of ecumenism. It is no longer “kosher” to broadcast religious differences between groups all claiming to be Christian. In fact, it seems most such religious arguments and have inside, within the walls of the various churches. We fight amongst ourselves, in other words, about even less important matters.
The preachers of the olden, golden days are accused from this safe distance of exhibiting a “fighting spirit.” Tsk, tsk, we say, from our modern high horse.
And yet, has the fighting spirit really died down? Has it not simply shifted indoors? Which is worse? Which is better? Is either healthy?
I am reminded of Paul’s colorful turn of phrase to the Galatians, who apparently suffered from internal squabbles – “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another” (Galatians 5:15). It would be good to recall exactly what precedes and follows this verse as well: verse 13 – “through love serve one another” and verse 16 – “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” The kinds of actions Paul addresses in verse 15 are not loving nor are they spiritual.
James gives us the ultimate insight into all this in James 4:1. Consider the power of these words: “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?”
The problem, you see, is within me. Not you. Not them. Me. It is the war within me that leads to the war with you, and with them. I need to remember that next time I try to fix blame upon another.