How to win a war

How do you win a war? You throw more bombs their way then they throw your way. Shock and awe. Don’t stop until they surrender. War is hard, and you better be aggressive. It helps to know their soft spot too. If you can hit that, you can obliterate them with out much damage to your own people.

Technology is helpful. Smart bombs, drones and night vision are a tremendous aid to us. We keep on innovating, so we can make sure the enemy cannot overwhelm us. That is the way we like to work, and it works.

During the Cold War, we aimed our nukes at them, and they aimed theirs at us. We always had our fingers on the button. All it would have taken was a phone call to get the missiles flying in both directions. Each year, our missiles got better, and so did theirs. But our “better” was better than their “better.” That is how you win a war.

So how do you win a war? What if it is a war between two people? Some would tell you to use the same strategy: lob missiles, verbal assaults, crush egos and decimate the relationship. Then you get the lawyers and drain the bank accounts. You find the soft spot and pound it mercilessly.

That is not the way we like to work it as it does not work in Christianity. There is a counterintuitive way to win a war between two people. It is called putting to death the deeds of your own flesh. As opposed to lobbing missiles at the other person, Jesus calls us to do things like get the log out of our own eye and put to death our own sin. He calls us to wage war on ourselves when we are in conflict with another. It seems like a losing strategy, but it is a winner.

The Spirit enables you to do battle with your sin nature. As you do that, He gives you the ability to love your enemy. That is not to say that you cannot enter into conflict. It is to say that Christians have a unique way to win the battle because the peace of Christ reigns.

If you are in Christ, you have a new nature and a sin nature. When you are in relationship with other Christians, your new nature is what is in fellowship with their new nature. Your sin nature is not in relationship with anybody. It is at war. That is what causes wicked conflicts. In your new nature, you are able to love and confront gently while admitting your own sin.

The sin nature wants to pick a fight. So give it what it wants: a fight with the Spirit. That is a war it cannot win.

Do you have a conflict with someone? Can we encourage you to pray today and seek to deal with your own issues and then approach them in love?

If that is too scary, we can help. Peace.