If You Want to be a Pacifist

If you want to be a pacifist, your aspirations may be the latest fad or fashion. My friends, and I love them dearly mind you, seem to think it’s cool to beat guns into shovels and swords into butter knives. It is a hot topic at now-a-days. You just might be hot if you claim to be a pacifist. And yet, is this really what we should be known for?

My closest friends have asked me, “Are you a pacifist?” I have responded in kind. “I have pacifist convictions, but refuse to impose upon others what seems unclear to many when examining the truth in the Word of God.” If in examining our heart, we are able to reconcile the cross with using our hands to make war with evil, then we must do so on our knees with eyes fixed on Jesus. And I hope it makes our legs quake to think that we could have the authority to take the judgment of God into our own hands. And if our feet do find solid ground for a just war, I ask again, is this really what we should be known for?

The time may be ripe to discard the labels that we adopt with fondness. They stoke a fire in our hearts which lashes out at others leaving third degree burns in our wake. Jesus came full or grace and truth. Perhaps, the only action worse than sin, is wielding the unbridled truth without the healing balm of grace.

When those around us see genuine compassion for others spring from our hearts and into our limbs, they will ask, “Why is it that you spend so much time with broken people? Why would you throw ice cream parties with strangers? Why did you drop the charges against me when I destroyed your property? Why did you greet my children as if they were move valuable than the finest jewelry?”

At that point in time, I pray to God that the words that flow from my heart be these, “I am a Jesus follower. This is what Christians do. Jesus, the Son of God, became human like us. He died for our sins. Though it breaks my heart to think this, it was my sin that held him to that cross. But on the third day, he rose again giving us new life. And upon leaving this earth, He sent us His Spirit to carry us along in this life. Why would I not do the things that Jesus did? Why would I not spend time with the broken, throw ice cream parties with strangers, drop property damage charges and care deeply for your children?”

Can we simply be Jesus followers, not pacifists or just-war advocates? May we never be known as labelists! My prayer is that you will be able to say instead, “Follow and imitate me as I follow Jesus. Take the burden of Jesus upon you and learn from Him, for he is gentle and humble in heart. His load is easy and his burden is light. Take up your cross daily and follow Him and you will find a joy that brings lightness to your step.”