THE CHRISTIAN’S ATTITUDE TOWARD WORLDLY STRIFE.
By G.
A LABOR writer of some note truthfully says that “greed is the most active evil of all agencies in the strife between labor and capital.” And this truth is further emphasized in the declaration that greed “is the parent body from which almost every sin of humanity has being and development.” Greed is but another name for selfishness, or selfish ambition, which is the root of rebellion against the law of God, and therefore against all right principle. Sin originated, and gained access to this world, through the desire of Lucifer for self-aggrandizement. Hence, sin is the fruit of the spirit of self-serving. The scripture says that “when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin;” and lust is simply the desire to gratify selfish purposes. The writer, to whose utterances we have alluded, further and truthfully says: The lust of greed, when once its poison begins to circulate in the human heart, perverts every sentiment of pity, generosity, and justice. It poisons the even current of domestic felicity and generates hate and envy among brothers and sisters of the same household; it creates strife in neighborhoods; it renders politics odious, and law a travesty on justice; it creeps into municipalities, and a long-suffering public must bear the result; city and government officials produce their annual crop of boodlers. Through the baneful influence of greed, religion has its Judases and the church its traitors. Greed is everywhere. But the key to all worldly conflicts lies in the next sentence: “Then it is not unnatural that strife and resentment should result.” Of course it is not “unnatural;” it is perfectly natural; for sin—the fruit of selfishness—having entered the world, and all having sinned (Rom. 3:23), the natural resentment is of the same spirit as the original oppression. This is to be expected, because “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,” 1 Cor. 2:14. Therefore the natural “strife and resentment” against evil is not of the Spirit of God. The apostle Paul, writing by inspiration of that Spirit, says that “we [Christians] wrestle not against flesh and blood;” therefore “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.” We can not carry on a natural “strife and resentment,” because our Leader has commanded us to follow Him, and He did not resent injury. When He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; and in this He left us an example.” See 1 Peter 2:21-23. The Christian’s warfare is against “spiritual wickedness;” it is against the primary cause of the outward evils we see in this world; for that is the controversy in which the Master, in whose service we are, is engaged. We are not to war against the poor victims of Satan’s baleful influence, who are naturally possessed of his selfish spirit. Our Master’s great sacrifice was made in order to save them; and Christians, being once of that same class, should have charity for them, and exercise the Spirit of Him whose followers we profess to be. He died for His enemies, who are also the Christian’s enemies, that they might be saved from their wickedness; so, if we would be His true disciples, we must exercise a like spirit toward them. We never can save men by retaliating upon them after the manner of their misdoings toward us. Theoretically the civil law is to protect all classes from injustice; but when it fails—as it often will, being human and in the hands of human executives—the Christian’s appeal is to the Christian’s God. Then if we suffer, we suffer with Him, are “made partakers of His sufferings.” And “if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.” But if we undertake to defend ourselves in our own way, or in the world’s way by uniting our forces with the world’s organizations for “strife and resentment,” we ignore the promises and providences of God, taking ourselves out of the pale of His special protection, and foregoing the reward of faithfulness to the principles that He has set for our guidance. The Word of God is the Christian’s sole weapon of offense and defense in this world, and any scheme for the furtherance of human interests that can not be sustained by appeal to that Word is not Christian, and therefore can not be used by the Christian. We can not enter into any association that has in it the elements of “strife and resentment,” for any purpose whatever.