A different kind of fight

How do you fight?

I was personally a bit sad when Julia Gillard overthrew Kevin Rudd.

I felt real hope after the last election, the highlight being the apology to Aboriginal Australians.

By contrast this election felt so contrived, safe and devoid of leadership that it has been a relief we ended with a hung parliament so that we can actually start talking about issues that matter.

As I have said in previous posts, I don’t think I am all that skilled politically. I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve too much and work out what I think as I’m talking about it.

That tendency hasn’t made life easy for me, and I know that some people draw conclusions about me because of it.

It’s not much fun when it feels people are judging you, and its tempting to want to fight back.

I was struck this morning that the Apostle Paul had people judging him, and his response is quite interesting.

He starts chapter 10 of 2 Corinthians by explaining what people are saying about him:

And now a personal but most urgent matter; I write in the gentle but firm spirit of Christ. I hear that I’m being painted as cringing and wishy-washy when I’m with you, but harsh and demanding when at a safe distance writing letters.

He responds by saying that they are misreading him, but then goes on to write a passage that is usually construed to be talking about spiritual warfare, however it turns out that he is talking about battles between people:

^3-6The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair.

But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture.

We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.

Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.

Paul responds to personal criticism by saying fighting by the world’s rules is simply not the way to go.

He is saying that the very paradigm that produces the conflict is the problem, and that God equips us to change the very way we and others view the world.

He points out that the job isn’t to win the argument but to follow Christ, and for all our thoughts and responses to come under His leadership.

The outcome of this is a renewed vision of reality that enables us to become the people we were created to be.

Life will bring us conflict, and we can respond in one of three ways:

1. Avoid it, which means it sets the agenda for our lives.
2. Try to “win” it, which means we end up seeing people as “opposition” rather than human beings, probably doing the best they can with the data they have and the ability they have to make sense of that data
3. Or seriously ask the question, “How would Jesus respond to this”, and in fact ask him for wisdom. Ultimately this will always lead to a place where both sides of the conflict become more of the people they were created to be.

Conflict is not normally much fun, particularly if you feel misunderstood, however the outcome can be redemptive if we can let ourselves be open to the Redeemer.