February 02, 2007
Rules of Engagement
Our National Guard serving on the border between the US and Mexico is governed by some interesting Rules of Engagement. It’s my understanding that when they discover illegal aliens crossing the border the only action they are permitted to take is to notify the Boarder Patrol. In a recently reported incident, Guardsmen were confronted and flanked by a large group of men carrying AK-47’s. Surrounded, the Guardsman could do nothing but back away in retreat. I can empathize with our military men and women. It’s frustrating when you’re prepared for battle, completely dressed in the Full Armor of God, and then you hear Scripture whispering in your ear, ‘turn the other cheek’.
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Gail;
-----When I lived in Grand Junction thirty years ago, I had a young neighbor with schizophrenia. He had to take medication to even begin to maintain a semblance of normality. One afternoon we were visiting when it became immediately clear that he had not taken his pills. He sat forward on the couch with his elbows on his knees jabbering and jabbering. He would begin a sentence while looking at me. Then he would look to his other side and, in mid-sentence, switch to an entirely different thought. Sometimes the new sentence was also joined in mid-sentence. Then he would look back at me and once again derail to some other unrelated thought.
-----This experience interested me, because it was confirming a lot of thinking that I had previously given to just how much randomness is in the process by which the subconscious interjects thoughts into the consciousness. I have never fully come to believe that such interjected thought into my mind is necessarily one or the other of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the inspiration of the Devil, the natural interrelation of memories, or simply random activity. Instead, I have come to believe that such interjection is worthy of careful discernment, because it could have been tickled up by the Holy Spirit, or teased up by the Devil. And if it be neither of those, then the interjection served up by the memories may be either appropriate or inappropriate to the situation. So life is complex.
-----When the interjection is a piece of Scripture, I consider that interjection to be worthy of the same discernment. I know the stunts my mind has played with Scripture in the past, and I keep watch for any stunts it may be playing in the present. I consider that to be an important part of being watchful and guarding the mind, because I have too often in my past felt the confusion of onrushing interjections like my schizophrenic friend demonstrated.
-----So I have labored hard over the years to find and hold to that sweet line of no bias where truth can grow naturally into its own shape. Yet sadly, the realization is ever present that in the mortal human soul there is no true state of no bias, only a desire for such, and a growing tendency towards it. But a structure of growing truth must be in process all the same. And through the process of humble reconsideration, it will grow more towards its natural reality as the soul tends less to its own bias.
-----I consider myself as having on the full armor of God. But my belly hangs over the girdle, my breastplate is a couple sizes too small, my shoes are stiff from not having been thoroughly broken in, I generally find myself carrying my shield upside down, I often feel like I’m looking out the ear-hole of my helmet, and the swing of my sword is definitely not graceful. I would let my brothers’ jeering at my condition get to me if I hadn’t noticed their condition to be only somewhat better.
-----So when I hear the “turn the other cheek” thought interjected into my mind, I first really want to secure my rattling armor and run. When the battle regards physical goods, theological banter, or some personal loss to me, my cheek turns easily. But the fact that I have arrived at much thought formulated from Scriptural imperative concerning brotherly love, affection, acknowledgement, respect, honor, service, edification, unbiased acceptance, and much more comprising the core of fellowship prevents me from quickly dropping the sword to my side when I see good people torn away from the fellowship they have grown up in because other men must have the ways of their own bias. There are times when the nature of the evil subtly working through the hearts of otherwise godly men provides a context to which the other cheek must present the same message as did the first, even if surrounded by AK-47’s.
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