Shooting Our Wounded

When we find out someone we know is enduring devastating trials do we automatically assume God allowed it to happen because they’re living in sin?  In the back of our minds maybe we believe that God is punishing them for making wrong choices?  The fact is that we don't have all the facts and we don’t ever need all of the facts about their situation.  What Christians truly need to be is an extension of Christ’s love and compassion to those hurting people, not their judge.

It’s sad when wounded people come to the body of Christ for compassion, love and healing but what they find many times is judgmental, prideful, critical eyes who would rather shun them than minister to them.  They are blinded by the enemy and don't even realize the fact that there WILL come a day when God will allow some of those same trials in their own lives.  During those difficulties they will also need the love, support and mercy from other Christians but they should not expect to receive it.  Jesus says Himself in Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful for THEY will be shown mercy.”  God also tells us in Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.” We cannot count on receiving help when we are hurting if we have not been willing to reach out and help other people going through trials.

It’s a far too common occurrence to see Christians shooting our own wounded!  In military terms this is called “friendly fire”.  We need to be on guard and watchful for enemy attacks, planning strategies to block any victories for our enemy’s kingdom.  Instead we CHOOSE to do damage to the kingdom of God by discouraging, ignoring, shunning or shooting our own soldiers.  If we were soldiers of war, we would never even fathom the thought of wounding our own comrades or refusing medical treatment to those who had been hit by enemy fire.  We would never dream of leaving that wounded soldier there to die without trying to do whatever we could to see that they would recover.  The truth is that we ARE in a battle. The battle we fight is not physical but spiritual. 
     
Christians need to put away our pointing judgmental fingers and stop pulling the trigger to shoot our own wounded.  What hurting people desperately NEED is a refuge in which they can come to find love, compassion and help.  It is in this atmosphere where situations are handled Biblically in love that those hurting people can also see how God might be working to change their hearts in some sin areas as well.  In Psalm 46:1 we see that “God is our refuge and help, our very present help in times of trouble.”  This means He will come to our aid in times of trouble.   If Christians are supposed to be exactly like Christ, then why aren’t we faithfully coming to the aid of hurting people who desperately need our help?

It's heartbreaking, but there are also Christians who take the shunning and judging of those going through trials even one step further.  Putting on the disguise of a concerned saint they like to gather as much information as they can, mostly negative, so that they can “pray” for the wounded.  They haven’t gone out of their way to respond in love personally to help treat the hurting person’s wounds.  Instead they take it upon themselves to “appear” to be helping by spreading information to others which was none of their business to begin with.   Satan uses those gossips as tools to infiltrate the church with misconceptions and lies in an attempt to further rub salt into the wounds of the hurting by destroying their reputations.  Throughout the Bible we see how nosy busybodies or talebearers cause harm by spreading information. The talebearers 'words' are compared to causing internal wounds to people in Proverbs 26:22, “The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.”

If Christians are to be known by our love but choose not to demonstrate it to the hurting, it’s no wonder that so many people are turning away from the church.  Whether it’s the innocent party of a marital separation or divorce, victims of abuse or those who have repented of past sin and seek to start over in their Christian walk, they need our help.  When we fail to reach out to the wounded to lovingly meet their needs we grieve the heart of our Savior who willing left glory to suffer and die on the cross to meet OUR spiritual needs.  This is blatant hypocrisy and there’s no difference between the Pharisees of Jesus day and Christians today who choose to turn their back in arrogance to a wounded neighbor.  The Pharisees proudly claimed to follow the letter of the law perfectly, even questioning Jesus about His obedience to it.  We Christians claim to love Christ with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength which is the first and great commandment mentioned in Matthew 22: 7-8, but miserably fall short in obeying the second commandment to “Love our neighbor as ourselves”.  We CANNOT talk about how much we love God and also refuse to show love by turning a blind eye to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of others.

This situation of friendly fire among the body of Christ should not continue.  Every single one of us has sin areas that we need to humbly acknowledge and confess before God.  We each have the responsibility and privilege to love God and serve Him by loving others and serving them.  In examining your life, how do you measure up in this area?  When you know someone who has been wounded do you automatically play judge and jury and quickly dismiss yourself from any involvement in meeting their needs?  God is faithful because where we’ve failed before, with His help we can obey in the future.  Imagine what our churches would be like and what kind of impact we could make for Christ on a lost and dying world if we’d simply follow God’s Word and show His love to the wounded He brings across our path every single day.