Ten years ago, right after 9/11, I was having lunch with a great man of God. He works with Muslims and has such an amazing balance of working in this culture, loving Muslims, and loving God. Right after 9/11 when all I wanted was to find who was responsible and take them down, he offered a different perspective.

The greatness of a nation may not be in the power of their response. It may be in their power to respond and choosing not to.

All things being equal, I will not deny there is something in me that is glad we finally got Osam bin Laden. I can’t deny that. This nation, being a human-run entity, had to make some sort of response. (Let the debate rage somewhere else as to the effectiveness of that response.)

But when I look at this nation ten years later, I find myself more in line with my friend’s words.

It’s not just our nation, but the church in America. We are a deeply divided nation. We are far more partisan than ever before. We can’t agree on lunch.

But beyond that, it’s the church. We could have a deeply divided nation and the church could still choose to live differently. But, alas, we don’t. We pick at each other. We call out liberals or conservatives. We call out creationists or Darwinists. We call out Pentecostals or cessationists. We call out Arminians or Calvinists.

In prayer, I ask for something more. Something better. Something higher. And let it begin with me.

Let me love my Christian brothers and sisters. (Even Joel Watts.) 😉

Let me love my neighbor. Even my Muslim neighbor.

Teach me to live in Kingdom power, not this world’s power, dear Lord.

YOURS is the Kingdom, power and the glory. Forever.

Amen.