Lay It Down

Our world is scary and a mess. When we are faced with the fear, confusion, and chaos, our temptation is to cling to the systems of the world that have served us in the past. But we must lay down all things that are not of God's Kingdom, so we can follow Christ without the baggage and burden of earthly identities and hinderances. 

Lay down our national identity. To follow the Lamb of God, we must turn from our national agenda. The paths of Christ and the United States have diverged a long time ago. We cannot follow both. Who will we follow and serve? 

We choose to place our identity in the Kingdom of Heaven, not the country we were born in. 

Lay down our political identity. The Lamb of God is not aligned with the Donkey or the Elephant. 

We choose to place our identity in God's Kingdom, where the poor in spirit, mourners, meek, those hungering & thirsting after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and persecuted are blessed.

Lay down our familial ties. The Family of God supersedes the ties of the families we were born into. 

We choose to view all Christians as mother, brother, and sister, instead of the family we were born into.

Lay down our desire for power and control. God is King, not us. We were not commanded to legislate our morality and punish those who break our religious laws.

We choose to speak for the powerless without seeking power ourselves.

Lay down our desire for comfort and convenience. To follow Christ is to go where we are uncomfortable, to learn uncomfortable truths, and face the dark side of our history.

We choose to learn about the history (and modern story) of racism, white supremacy, nationalism in the church, and other uncomfortable truths. 

Lay down our desire for convenience. When we follow Christ, we are often inconvenienced, as we are called to serve others, love those who hate us, and follow Him instead of our plan. 

We choose to be inconvenienced as Christ asks us to feed His sheep, care for those on the margins of society, and follow where His Spirit guides us. 

Lay down our desire for safety. Christ commanded us to put away our swords, turn the other cheek, and live in peace with others. 

We choose to lay down our weapons and defenses. We choose to respond peaceably in the face of violence.

Lay down our compulsion to defend God. Listen to the pain of those hurt by the church without rationalizing the actions of those who hurt them. Listen to their anger without getting defensive or hurt yourself. God is big enough to take all of the pain, anger, frustration, and confusion a person brings. God does not need us to defend HIM. 

We choose to offer compassion instead of judgment to those who are hurting.

Lay down our need to save face and refuse to admit when we're wrong. Seek forgiveness and reconciliation when we have hurt others instead of doubling down on our position or explaining how we are not to blame.

We choose to forgive and seek forgiveness. We choose to reconcile and seek reconciliation.

Lay down our pride. In our national identity, political identity, and righteousness. We remember that pride is a sin and God opposes the proud. When we are prideful, we aren't teachable.

We choose to humble ourselves and walk in humility.

Lay down our persecution complex. We have a mindset that we are so persecuted in the United States, when really people are pushing back against our unloving and judgmental words and actions. Learn about the persecution that the persecuted church is facing: the destruction of homes & businesses, the physical beatings and executions, and so on. 

We choose to pray for the persecuted and their persecutors. We choose to remember those in prison for their faith.

Lay down our judgments. We were not called to judge the world, but we find ourselves judging those with different political affiliations, lifestyles, and religions.

We choose to humble ourselves before the seat of judgment instead of sitting in judgment of others.

Once we have laid all of these things down, we find that our hands are free to take up our cross, deny ourselves, and follow Christ.