The title sounds like the start of a joke: Satan and Kaepernick walk into In-n-Out. Ha. I won’t go there. But, I am going to talk about these three.

I woke up in the middle of the night the other day. I instantly began thinking about all kinds of crazy things. Why does that happen? It’s 2am and all of a sudden your mind wants to be productive. But, at 2pm you can’t get your brain to remember why you walked into a certain room. Ugh. So frustrating.

Anyway, I was thinking about us as a people; the whole world. I was taking inventory of us and I had a vision. I saw myself standing on a busy street corner in NYC. The shot was like a camera was looking down on me from a drone. There I was, clear as day. Everything around me, however, was speeding by. So-much-so, that the cars and people looked like blurred lights like one would see in a photograph. There I stood with everyone zooming by. No one had any idea that they were moving so fast and I was standing still. They were all so focused on their lives and their offenses that they wouldn’t see me if they ran right into me.

This is how I see the world.

We are all moving at lightning pace that we cannot see what is standing right in front of us. 

Every week brings forth a new offense. It doesn’t matter what side of the fence you are on or what you believe or don’t believe. If you wait long enough, something is going to come around to entice you to be offended.

We know this is true. We fully understand that our culture and our world operates this way. We are appalled by it, yet participate in it. It’s like a drug that we desperately want to rid ourselves of but are so addicted we don’t know how. 

How do we live a life unoffended?

Satan has us in his grip. As I stood there so still while everyone passed me by, I saw it. I witnessed his hold on us. And we don’t even know it. We are so distracted with our offenses that we have completely lost sight of the battle. Our battlefield does not reside in the latest offense. Our battle is found in the unseen. We are fighting the wrong war and we don’t even see it.

^“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.” Ephesians 6:12

We are fighting each other when we should be fighting him. The root of our issues isn’t about who contributor what to which campaign, who signed the latest ad campaign, or what establishment has non-gender descriptive bathrooms. The origin is the heart. 

We are not going to accomplish anything by burning shoes or telling others they are damned to hell if they eat a burger. Our victory lies in love. 

^“But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’ Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, ‘Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?’ But Jesus remained silent.” Matthew 26:60-63a

If anyone can be offended, it is Jesus. I believe His silence in this moment speaks VOLUMES. Sometimes, our lack for words speaks louder than anything we can shout.

Jesus was brought before the “court” and put on trial for crimes he did not commit. I put the word, court, in parenthesis because this was not your traditional court setting. This was an ad hoc gathering. People came together for this specific moment rather than the typical Sanhedrin with strict guidelines on how to function. There were false witnesses and false accusations. Yet, Jesus remained silent.

Oh, how that silence changed the world. The only thing Jesus spoke during this time was a promise.

‘The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”’ Matthew 26: 63b-65

What would happen if we responded to our offenses in silence?

What would change if we responded with a promises instead of an indignant heart?

What if we went in and ate that burger and paid for someone else’s meal without them knowing? Or, we walked into that coffee shop even though they did something we didn’t agree with and we were kind to it’s employees? How would the culture of our world change if we shopped at that store and smiled at the person who used the “wrong” bathroom making them feel seen and valued and not like an animal? How would your circle differ if you listened more than you spoke?

Jesus was silent and that spoke volumes.

I will leave you with one last story. I was at an establishment that has come under fire in the past few years. I was drinking coffee from another company that has come under fire a few times. The woman in front of me in the checkout line scanned her card after the checker took almost 10 minutes to ring her up. Her card was denied. She made a phone call that took about 5 minutes. She began handing items back to the checker to take them off her receipt. The total kept coming down but it wasn’t enough. This wasn’t food she was purchasing. It was clothes. She finally asked the clerk to void the transaction (after she had taken off about six items typing in each skew number) and start all over. The whole process probably took about 30 minutes. I had to go to the bathroom and, like all of us, had 8500 other things I needed to do before the boys got home.

I could have been angry. I could have rightfully been frustrated. I could have started my shopping experience mad at this big box store for even tinkering with the idea of changing its bathroom schematic. I could have been peeved from the get-go that they allowed a coffee place that offended all kinds of people still operate there. My whole attitude could have sucked (excuse my language) and many of you would have called that justified. But I didn’t. I made a decision to not live offended and I do not regret it one bit.

Instead…

I saw a girl who was probably mortified that she couldn’t afford what was on the belt.

I laughed with a checker who most likely felt the pressure of that situation and was waiting for me to tear her head off because somehow it was her fault.

I entered a store that needs Christians to be present so that there is light shining in the darkness.

I myself to sip coffee from an establishment that is quick to accept responsibility for it’s wrongs.

Look, y’all, my salvation is secure. I know that I will not get kicked out of Heaven because of the brand of shoes I wear. Our focus is misplaced and it is time we recognize this. 

It isn’t me on that busy NYC corner with everything and everyone buzzing by. It is Jesus. He is standing there waiting for us to fix our gaze on Him instead of everything else. Are you willing to stop?

There is a time to speak up and fight injustice. There is also a time to remain silent. Jesus’ silence during his “trial” (we all know it wasn’t really a trial) should rattle us to our core. It should remind us to trust Him when injustice is served and hope seems lost. It should remind us to know that He is still in control even when this world seems to have gone off the rails. It should also remind us that we should always ALWAYS be pointing people to the Promise not the accusation. 

Don’t let Satan grab you. Don’t let him turn you head away from the real focus. He’s got us and he is not going to let go until you decide to slap his hand away.

Remind people of the Promise, not the accusation. 

Love & Blessings,

Meg