Recently, I sat across the kitchen table from a young friend of mine, listening as he tried to untangle the knot of confusion troubling his mind. Half Ukrainian, half Russian, he was trying to come to grips with the fact that one side of his family was now officially at war with the other side. He has always been proud of his dual ancestry, but now it has become a complicated and painful issue that has left both his heart and family divided.
Now in its fourth month, the complexity of the war has only grown more and more intense. With every passing day and every tragic death, Ukrainians, and Russians, regardless of their position on the war, find themselves thrust deeper into the court of public opinion.
What makes that such a frightening consideration is the nature of ‘public opinion’ today.
Social Media has eliminated the previous assumption, that if you voice your opinion in a public forum, you better be prepared to back it up with facts and sound reasoning.
Nowadays it’s totally acceptable to copy, paste and post pre-packaged opinions and conclusions without a care about their origins, accuracy, or outcome. This global court passes sweeping sentences, formed by trends and algorithms, which the masses sadly propagate with bias.
And so we hear the stories of how total strangers feel it’s their google-given duty to pass sentence on all Russians and Ukrainians simply on the basis of their nationality or accent. People are accepted and rejected, privately and publicly, pronounced guilty or innocent, by those whose prejudices have been formed by little more than their Facebook feed, without any real substance or regard to the details or history of those they judge.
Tragically, every time we succumb to this temptation, we only pronounce ourselves guilty of perpetrating the war we claim to be so against. We have inadvertently enlarged the circle of conflict to our own lives by mimicking the mob rule.
Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
As a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, I believe there is a higher court of law. God’s court.
As a sinner, who has been saved solely by God’s grace, I have been called to love, not judge others.
I’ve been to Ukraine very recently. I’ve felt the shudder of Russian bombs falling and seen the trauma in Ukrainian eyes. But that doesn’t give me the right to condemn every Russian I meet, nor memorialize every Ukrainian. As the story of my friend above illustrates, it’s never as simple as we think. My responsibility, to the best of my ability, is to love the people around me, and leave the judgment to God. It doesn’t matter whether they are Russian, Ukrainian, Cypriot or Syrian. It doesn’t matter if they are black or white, gay or straight, rich or poor. How can I pass verdict on others so casually and completely, when I expect God to forgive me of so much? Christians all over the world echo this sentiment when they pray the Lord’s prayer, “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
Don’t misunderstand me, God will judge all sin. But you shouldn’t get too excited about that prospect, because that includes yours and mine. Do you want Him to judge you by the same standard we accept from Social media? Do you want him to copy, paste and post your sins on judgment day, without partiality or care for the outcome?
Or do you want grace? Do you want mercy? King David wrote, when confronted with his sin, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.” He understood that his only hope was in the grace of God. The Bible teaches that God’s grace is now available through His Son, Jesus Christ, who has borne our sins on the cross and offers us eternal life, as a free gift, through faith in Him. And having forgiven the mountain of sin of all who believe and repent, He calls us to show the same grace, patience and love to others that He has shown us. “We love, because He first loved us” the Bible says.
Choosing to walk in this truth will not end the war, or any other for that matter. But at least it will set us free in our hearts and the circle of destruction can end with us.
By Pastor Tim Mattox
Paphos Calvary Chapel
www.calvarycyprus.com
