For those of us who are Christ-followers, it doesn’t take long for us to get offended as we look at what’s going on in American culture. We live in an upside down world where good is called evil and evil, good. It grieves us, and it should. It grieves God’s heart as well.

This past weekend Nancy Pelosi was on NBC’s “This Week” program and said some things that offended me to the core. Ms. Pelosi, who is a rabid liberal voice, was pushing funding for family planning services as an important part of the strategy for our recovering economy. Why? Because if we eliminate births of children, states will have more money to spend on other things. She apparently only views children as a cost, not a resource to our world. One conservative pundit quipped, “The Speaker’s bottom line: Fewer children reduces the cost to the state. And fewer politicians like Pelosi reduces the cost to the children.”

Well said pundit guy.

Our culture has lost sight of God. Far from honoring God, it honors things like self, pleasure, personal advantage, comfort, and convenience. As society drifts farther from God and his ways, the face of evil comes into clearer focus. Evildoers seem bolder than ever; they no longer hide their tactics. Celebrities build careers out of doing the things they would have kept secret a generation ago. Evil is now public. It’s praised and rewarded. It’s something to be aspired to, not kept under wraps. Evil is right there in front of us.

We may be grieved about what we see happening, but we will add to the problem if we do not respond appropriately. Sadly, the appropriate response is not obvious. In fact, it is counterintuitive. What should Christ-followers do about the evil we see? How should we respond? Let me discuss a three-pronged strategy.

We must not let anger motivate us.
Though anger is a natural response to the evil we see in the world around us, we are warned to not let it drive us to action (Eph. 4:26). Instead, we are to be driven by things like faith, hope and love. We may want to respond in anger and to use truth in a sword-like manner, poking and cutting away at what we know is wrong, but that is not Christlike. James wrote, “Man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (James 1:20).

We must respect those who disagree with us.
Respecting the right of people to disagree with the truth is definitely counterintuitive. Yet historical Christian thought has always held to this view. Paul’s instruction was clear about how we should talk to those who reject the truth: “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants” (2 Tim. 2:24-26, NLT).

In another place Paul tells us that when we deal with truth-rejecters we should “slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men” (Titus 3:2). In the same context we are told we have no right to attack those who oppose us because, “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures” (v. 3)

In other words, we should always be humbled by the notion that, except for the grace of God, we would be as deceived as anyone we encounter in the culture in which we live. That should be a kind of “chill pill” to our emotionally jacked-up rhetoric. These texts are clear; we don’t have the luxury of attacking those who disagree with us. Insulting and name-calling are never options for the believer. Besides, people are not the enemy.

So, who, then, is “the enemy”?

Lot’s of Christians think we need to fight people. They have identified the “outsiders”—they are the abortionists, civil libertarians, pacifists, activist federal judges, feminists, Planned Parenthood, Democrats, environmentalists, proponents of big government, secularists, humanists, welfare advocates, gays, Darwinists, anyone who tries to raise your taxes, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, anybody who is soft on illegal immigrants and supports gun control; pornographers, organized labor, and the NEA. But scripture is clear that, “We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world” (Eph. 6:23, CEV).

People like Nancy Pelosi are not our enemies. She is not the devil (though I don’t doubt that much of her reasoning comes from him). Once conservative commentator claimed Ms. Pelosi acted like a government official from Red China in her interview this past weekend. That kind of labeling and name-calling may make for captivating television, but Christians must not join in—at least not in the name of Christ. Jesus said, “Do not resist an evil person” (Mat. 5:39). Instead we are to love them, pray for them, and try to influence them.

We must find a way to influence.
When Christians feel the weight of the world on their shoulders, we have typically lashed out at anyone we believe opposes God’s ways. If we do not want to fail in the future we must learn from our history. The kingdom of God is not about the use of power. It’s about the hope of influence, which is a kind of antipower. When power is the strategy and battle plan, the goal becomes forcing your opponents to think “like-I-do.” Power relies on force, leverage, superior numbers, maneuvering. It’s about vanquishing enemy, utterly annihilating your opponent. No mutual respect and bridge-building here.

Jesus introduced the idea of changing the world through antipower. Jesus gained influence in our lives vis-à-vis his sacrifice, not his fist. As Christ-followers, we are to imitate Jesus’ sacrificial gesture. “To this you were called,” scripture says, “because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21). This is how we make room for God’s kingdom to change people and ultimately the world. The struggle of sacrifice, kindness, forgiveness, humility, and love is an unavoidable, inescapable theme of the Bible.

Influence is found on a narrow, straight, and hard road that seems to violate common sense. It requires self-sacrifice, humility, grace, goodness, altruism, and incautious, reckless love. To follow Christ is a call to surrender in the culture war—to ditch our power weapons of choosing sides, leveraging political alliances, demonizing the opposition, and forming pressure groups and using pressure tactics. We discover that only the cross really exhausts evil.

Influence is the Good Samaritan. You bind up your enemy’s wounds and care for him at your own expense. Influence is never safe; it requires involvement and engagement, while power wages war from a safe distance. It’s risky and won’t bring personal glory. But it WILL win the heart of our neighbors.

When we follow Jesus’ example of authentic sacrifice, we stop investing our energies in defending or advancing our own religion, ideologies, agenda, nationalism, or tribe. Instead, we love as God loves—without reservation or condition. We no longer live in an “eye for eye” or “tooth for tooth” world; we don’t return evil for evil or hatred for hatred. Instead, we give a blessing. We no longer live in an “us” versus “them” frame of mind. We drop labels. We only see people; people for whom Christ died.

Is this hard? You bet. So hard it may kill you. But isn’t that what it means to takes up one’s cross to follow Jesus? From its inception Christianity has always involved death on some level. Why should we think it would be any different today? Jesus overcame evil in this world and changed people’s lives by sacrificing himself for them. He didn’t war against people to change them, nor did he enact change by starting a political organization or by badmouthing sin. There was nothing forceful about Jesus. He didn’t come to earth to conquer us. Instead, he came in weakness. He came to die. This is not Patton or MacArthur, Rambo or Iron Man. This is Jesus. He is the ultimate example of what it looks like to win by losing.

Only God would promote something so preposterous.


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