Set Apart

In Exodus we read of the Israelites miraculous deliverance out of Egypt. Away from bondage of kings, slavery, and oppression they were on their way to the promised land. God was with the people, as they wandered without a home, God protected them, fought for them, and was to be the only authority they trusted in. As time went on they saw other empires nearby growing, empires that had a king and an army that did the fighting. The more they saw them the more they wanted to take things into their own hands. They wanted a king they could see and touch, they were asking for the very thing they had been rescued from in Egypt. In Jesus for President, Shane Claiborne says, “Something whispered inside the Israelites that they needed a king -to be like the other nations-a paralysis of faith and imagination. That sounds very familiar to some things I hear today. After a while of demanding from God that they be given a king, God finally has enough he reminds them of the things Kings will do. A king would turn their children into soldiers, their earnings into taxes; things that were, “a compromise to the very identity of God. How could they be set apart if they looked like the rest of the world?” (Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne.)

The people then wanted something because it was needed in their eyes, in the world they lived in. A necessary evil.

Now over two thousand years later I feel we still haven’t learned anything, we still haven’t figured out what it means to be “set apart.”

The more I look at non-violence and the life of Jesus the harder I find it to believe how popular violence is among Christians. Many people I talk with agree that war is a horrible thing, and violence should be stopped. Then they continue with….

“But, it’s something that’s needed, in the world we live in. A necessary evil.”

That sounds an awful lot like a paralysis of faith and imagination. Have we really lost faith in that God would take care of us? Have we lost the imagination to find a more creative way to solve our conflicts? When the soldiers came to take Jesus away in the garden and Peter drew his sword, if there ever was a case where Jesus would have been very justified in using the sword what did he do? Not only did he rebuke Peter for using his weapon he healed the ear of the soldier that was injured. What a shock that must have been to rest of the group of soldiers! They were coming expecting a fight and here this guy just heals them instead. What an example. Even after all this so many of us still continue to support military campaigns of violence and vengeance. Something I’m pretty sure God said belonged to him alone. I don’t believe God’s truths change with the world. It’s very clear to me that through the many examples from the Old and New Testament that violence is not the way. Cultures change, but God’s truths remain the same. We are to be a people set apart! Even in the holy wars of the Old Testament the people had drifted from God. In true holy war God did the fighting and the people trusted in God. Even from time of the kings the people had drifted from God’s true nature, then in the New Testament Jesus came as God’s word personified. He didn’t come on a mighty horse as a military leader but he came as a humble, homeless refugee riding a donkey. That is my savior, and the one I serve. Despite everything we, his people, have done in his name, He is still constantly trying to win us back. He hasn’t given up on us and I hope we can continue to seek his grace, mercy, and the true nature of God.


On a personal note, I’m back in Kabul Afghanistan with my wife! We both have found jobs and plan on being here for a year so please continue to keep us in your prayers.