Don’t do evil over nothing

“Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm.”
-Proverbs 3:30

First reaction when reading this verse was this – what in the world am I going to talk about here? Am I going to try to encourage people to not get into battles when there is nothing to fight over? Do we really do that? Surely we don’t really wage wars over nothing, do we?

Then I thought about it, and my second reaction was this – how in the world am I going to write about all the wars we wage over nothing?

I know we always THINK we have a good reason to get angry at one another, to really go at it, to argue and battle. At the time, these reasons seem really, really important.

But what are we standing out ground over? In politics we start massive arguments and debates over two people who usually agree on almost every issue. At work we instantly dislike those who may get in the way of a promotion, even though we are working at the same place for the same goal. At home you get angry at the kids for leaving a toy out on the floor.

In the Church, we seem constantly angry at other Christians over something. We will mock those who would agree with us on every single point except maybe baptism or the rapture (it amazes me how dogmatic people are on the rapture, by the way). Some churches will not allow those who have a slightly different view of communion from partaking of the table, even if that person agrees with every single critical point of the Christian faith. And then some whole churches will focus their wrath against sinners of some sort, either homosexuals, drunks, or fornicators.

Some denominations have even been birthed out of frustration because of this struggle. They falsely believe that it is the doctrine that is the problem, since we always fight over doctrine, so they toss doctrine out the window. And then what do they do? They mock churches that hold onto the Word, proving that it wasn’t the doctrine that was the problem at all, but us.

Every day, we hold our own private grudge matches against people who don’t use their blinkers, who live in sin, who didn’t agree with us at the last meeting, who sings too loudly at church (and off key at that!), or who talks in the theater.

And most of the time, these people have done very little, if any, harm. And even if they had, love would have solved the problem when hatred only makes things worse.

We fall so naturally and easily into cliques, into factions. Even with Christians, our default mode seems to be to run to the like-minded and shut out the rest of the world. But that is not what we have been called to do. We have been called to love.

If Jesus judged us with half the ferocity that we judge each other, we would all end up in damnation. Thankfully, He does not. If we repent and believe in Him, then we are not judged by our many, many sins, but by Grace.

Consider that next time you judge another for some small issue. How would you fare under the same degree of judgment. Let us treat each other with mercy, as He has treated us.