I stared into the eyes of my Little League football team. They could taste victory if they would just work together. There was a lot riding on this game for my two sons, including respect, bragging rights, and the attention of a first-grade girlfriend named Karrie. My son Caden was the quarterback, and his little brother Connor was wide receiver.
Connor ran his route and stood waiting in the end zone. The pass was beautiful — right up until it fell into the hands of the defender, Connor’s best friend Clay, who took it the length of the field for a pick six. I had to turn from coach to referee as a fight ensued in the huddle.
“Whose side are you on?” Connor yelled at his brother with tears in his eyes. “What are you doing? You meant to throw it straight to him. Karrie was watching!”
“Boys, we are on the same team!” I yelled.
There is a lot of yelling going on these days. You may have felt like shouting more than once during this season of turmoil and polarization of pandemic proportions. The constant noise of social media and streaming opinion has heightened tensions and demanded that the church choose a side. Red or Blue. Black or White. Male or Female. We lose site of the fact that we as the church are on the same team and on neither side.
Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come” (Joshua 5:13-14).
The world is longing to see a church that is above the culture, not like it. The church is not fully on either side, but a family on a mission. We should be a people who seek justice, not to make a political statement but because we value human life. We stand up for lives who are yet unborn. We hold sacred the covenant of marriage, as it is defined in Scripture, between a man and a woman. Some of these issues may seem red and others blue, but they are black and white when seen through the lens of Scripture.
As we move into a season to elect leaders, let us never forget that we are on neither side. We are soldiers in the Lord’s army, working together, to saturate every life with the hope of the gospel.