Choosing the Right Hill

Americans sure do love to fight, don’t we? I know . . . not ALL Americans, but a lot of us do love to argue and make our opinions known. With the advent of the internet and social media and, yes, blogs (the irony), we have many, many forums upon which to inflict our views on the world. And when we cannot get our way, we will sue and argue our case in court. Oh how we love to fight!

And why shouldn’t we? Freedom of speech is a thing here, isn’t it? We are not like those other countries where people have to cower in fear of saying the wrong thing lest the government will haul them away in the middle of the night. This is America! We have the right to say just about anything we want, anywhere we want, and if we do not exercise that right constantly and vigorously, we will surely be taken over by the communists! (I really hope you have your sarcasm detector turned on.)

However, according the Scripture (God’s Word which is supposed to govern the actions of Christians, even American Christians), we who follow Christ are not Americans first. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God. Even more than that, we are ambassadors sent by King Jesus to represent His interests and share His Gospel.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:20 English Standard Version

This means that as followers of Christ, we have laid down our rights to spout off whatever vitriol happens to flash through our brains. We have laid down our rights to charge every hill and fight every battle. Even more so, we have laid down our rights to fight ANY battle according to the flesh. Even when our battle is just and our cause is righteous, the Christian’s “rules of engagement” are still governed by the fruit of the Spirit. If our words, tone, and actions do not align with “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,” then we are not serving King Jesus well.

Choose carefully which hills you want to die on.

All of this to say, “Choose carefully which hills you want to die on.” Choose carefully which battles you want to fight. Not every battle brings honor to King Jesus. Not every exercise of your rights as an American falls in line with your responsibilities as a representative of Christ’s kingdom.

What battles do you see being fought today that Christians should avoid?
What battles should we as Christians enter into for the sake of Christ?