The uncomfortable middle: I still remember john Wimber talking about the need to live in the uncomfortable middle – the tension of being truly biblical. Most people tend to sacrifice truth in their pursuit of being truthful. The uncomfortable middle is a hard place to be for me. I’m the kind of guy that prefers to go headlong into whatever it is I’m thinking about at the time. The path of destruction that I see when I turn around and look at my life is exhibit A for proving that.
I used to think that the middle was the place of compromise – how committed to the truth can you be if you don’t drain every drop of blood from its veins? But I am learning that my theology is not more important than the word of God. If the whole word of God is not informing my theology then I’m not truly committed to the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I’m committed to my own ideas of what the truth is.
We are near the 150the anniversary of the end of “THESE United States of America” and the beginning of “THE United States of America.” We see the end results of that uncivil war all around us. Like most of the wars fought on this planet it was a war based on half truths with both sides believing they were pursuing the truth, biblical truth; one pursuing the end of slavery as an ungodly institution, the other insisting that they were being biblical in their buying and selling of human beings.
The south was right about slavery being an acceptable biblical practice. They were wrong in believing that what they were doing was biblical slavery – they were in fact co-conspirators in kidnapping – a Capitol offense.
The north was right in condemning the practice of Kidnapping for profit that was going on at the time. They were wrong to call it slavery and to think that war was going to stop people from wanting to sell themselves into slavery.
Welcome to the uncomfortable middle. Scripture is clear: Every human being is a slave. You are either a slave to wickedness or you are a slave to righteousness. Mankind can never be autonomous or independently free that is impossible for created beings- only God is independent. That being said human beings have been given the option of serving death their whole lives or placing their feet on the path of righteousness and serving life.
For the most part since “THESE” became “THE” we have as a people chosen to be slaves of death. We are rushing toward that slavery and bondage at breakneck speed these days. We choose to remain slaves to death because of the perks of not having be responsible and the promise that God doesn’t really know what he’s talking about that we were given in the garden by a talking snake.
The lovers of the bondage of death hang on to that promise by a thread. The spinners of truthful lies make death sound so full of life that it hard to see it for what it is. They make life seem like unbearable bondage, responsibility and duty a curse and a pox. The folks on Madison Avenue make death look so good in the pictures. Hollywood makes it seem so wonderful on the big screen. Music Row makes It sound so good flowing out of our ipods and stereos (people still have stereos don’t they?).
It seems so good that we go to war all over the world to force people into the freedom of death, or if you prefer you can call it mob rule, or better yet democracy. It is democracy that got us into this mess in the first place: two creatures telling one creator what they were and were not going to do.
So much for the uncomfortable middle. So much for the truth. So much for life.
But I hear the call of freedom in the slavery of righteousness. The sweet , wonderful, peaceful , slavery of being a creature that is no longer at war with his maker. You see I’ve finally begun to understand that when it comes to God and his word Edwin Star had it right when he sang: War! Huh, Good God y’all What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again.
Our only hope is to end our war against God and his righteousness. We can’t win it. Righteousness will be victorious in the end. We will all be in submission to the law of God in the end either willfully or unwillfully, as a friend and brother or as an eternal footstool, so why not choose life and submit ourselves as Prisoners of War to the Commander and Chief of God’s army that we may find ourselves smack dab in the uncomfortable middle where freedom is found in submission, life is found in giving up death and victory is found in defeat. It is the place where God is sovereign and man is responsible and the word of God is the path of life.
I long to be there; I pray to be there. I will not be satisfied until the grace of God causes my feet stay on the path of life 24/7 and my freedom is fulfilled in submission to the word of God in every jot and tittle.
Grace and Peace,
Brad
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