Faith Under Fire: A Call to Battle, Not Comfort
Being a Christian is hard. And Being a Christian immersed in a Christian community is Uncomfortable and Dangerous.
When you commit your life to Christ and decide to lay down all your desires, wants, hopes, and plans at the feet of Jesus, it’s not easy. I’ve heard people say believing in a god is a cop-out, an excuse to avoid responsibility by trusting (and/or blaming) a force beyond our control. But they misunderstand what it truly means to live a Christian life.
It means immersing yourself into a Christ-following community. A community where you are called to live life together, to be in each other’s mess, to get your hand dirty. It means knowing that no matter how “good” you are or how well you “behave” the enemy will still come after you and the ones you love. I can guarantee you will be attacked and attacked where it hurts the most; your parents, your children, your marriage, your best friend, your dreams.
Being a Christian is hard. It’s hard to believe in something you can’t tangibly hold up to someone and show them proof of. But I could show you how in a tragedy, we come together. Plans to support someone you possibly don’t know are made and executed at a moment's notice. Meals are purchased and delivered. Finances are covered so families can heal or pivot. Missions are sustained through donations and prayers. Houses and buildings are constructed and made whole. Cars are fixed and tires are changed. Wounds are healed and bandaged. Knees are bruised from dropping down to pray. Arms ache from lifting them in praise. Voices grow hoarse because we worship with strength.
In this community, I’m never lost in the mix. People know me well enough to notice when I’m not okay. If I don’t respond to a text or a funny reel, someone checks in. If I show up but seem “off,” they don’t let it slide. They pray over me, out loud and without hesitation—whether in church or in the middle of a grocery store.
Being a Christian immersed in a Christian community is Dangerous - dangerous to the enemy.
We fight back through prayer.
We fight back through tangibly taking care of each other’s families and friends.
We fight back through prayerful tears and pleas to our Creator to fix what is broken.
We pray for each other’s children as if they were our own.
As I write this, tears stream down my face praying for boys that I don’t know, haven’t met, might not ever, but they are important to our heavenly family, just as important as my own children.
We pray without ceasing.
We cry out to God for healing, for protection, for restoration, for comfort.
We pray knowing that the enemy will attack harder if we don’t give up seeking God.
We don’t give up because we know God is good and faithful, merciful and kind. He grieves with us. We don’t give up because we know, and the enemy knows, who God is and that God wins. He already won. When our Savior died on that cross, He tore down the veil and the barrier between our earthly bodies and our heavenly salvation. The enemy wants us to give up.
But we won’t. We will pray. We will die to our earthly desires. We will choose hard over easy. We will choose God’s capital-T Truth over what’s popular. We will choose fellowship over friendship. We will choose to give more than what we can, instead of hoarding treasures away.
We will choose God, every time.
And the dangerous part of being in a Christian community is that when we falter—because we will—our community will hold us up. They’ll remind us of God’s goodness and His work in the midst of our struggles. They won’t let us dismiss what He’s doing beyond the pain. It’s dangerous in the sense that you have chosen a life where you are held accountable. You will have to face your mistakes, ugliness, humanness, and humble yourself in front of and with people you love. It’s not an easy thing to do.
As I pray for this family in their tragedy, I see God’s people showing up—supporting, serving, and holding them up so they can focus on what matters. That’s what we do as Christians. That’s what this community is about.
I pray you find this community as well. I pray people pray for your children like they are their own. I pray people lift up your marriage in prayer for protection, because the enemy loves nothing more than to destroy godly marriages. If you don’t have this, join mine - this is your invitation to be a part of an entangled mess of people trying their best to follow Jesus.
Put your armor on friends. After yesterday…it’s going to be a hard road. I believe we rattled the lion’s den, threw rocks at the giant, and showed him we aren’t backing down. It will take all of us stepping out, getting uncomfortable, and leaning on each other to stay strong.
“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
To summarize, I love this from the Message version explaining Christ followers.
“If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!”
