Collateral Damage

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

A lot of military personnel know what collateral damage is; police usually can define it for you; it is damage that is unintended or incidental to the intended outcome. It has a little more broad connotation in other circles, but in this case, it is the loss of relationships to reach the objective which is Christ Jesus. When we choose Jesus, and make Him more than that block of time at church, when we really accept Him as our Savior, expect the losses to begin. When we start obeying the commandments and statutes in the bible, and I mean, as many as you can wrap your memory around, some family and friends will become collateral damage. They may become acceptable losses, too, if they choose to be stiffnecked to the end, but as you read your bible, Christ already warns of that.

Jesus warned us in the gospel of Matthew that we shall suffer this collateral damage I speak of; "

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me." (Matt. 10:34 - 37) The Gospel divides families, just as it divides congregations into believers who are not one-minded, that there need be denominations! I have in-laws and family alike who do not go to the same type church I do, because they feel their church interprets correctly, while I have irreconcilable differences with churches that have too many flaws in their doctrine. Then there are in-laws and family who don't go to church at all, and those, too, are a loss, so long as they refuse to accept Christ as I do.

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And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me." (Matt. 10:38) Seems cryptic by itself, but what He means is that there is nobody close enough to you, that if they are a distraction of your allegiance to Christ, that you should choose them over Him. Your choice is He that is your salvation, even to the death.

Another view of this decision gives us no choice about people who were once family and/or friends; "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (James 4:4) We can no longer be friends with worldly people! When we choose God, these people see us as their enemy, because we are no longer worldly people!

Oh, I have more about separating yourself from unChristian people, no matter how close you are; "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, 'I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.' 'Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate,' saith the Lord, 'and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters,' saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor. 6:14 - 18) This is outstanding advice when considering who will be your spouse. Believers should be able to weed out unbelievers pretty easily. You won't likely find your future spouse in a bar, a burlesque joint, or porn shop. You would probably be safe to exclude dating lingerie catalog models, soap opera stars, and pugilists. Definitely cross out drug addicts and drunks! Even if you have friends who are unbelievers, if you don't come out from among them, they will stop being one of those among YOU! Unbelievers will stop answering their telephones when they see your number on their caller ID, they will change their Email address, and yes, they will "defriend" you on Facebook! I have suffered all this collateral damage of many friends.

Jesus said, "

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 5:14 - 16) When we chose Christ, and started reading the bible, and going to church, and started obeying what we read, we became this light Jesus spoke of. The bible tells us how God fearing people did good things in history, and how we can do good things that are examples of obedience to the Lord. When we start doing these things, the ungodly will take notice. They will notice you no longer swear, nor go to night clubs, nor have one too many. No, you may not have any at all anymore. You stop smoking (if you used to), you will obey most of the laws of man (except the ungodly ones), and you will start demonstrating charitable behavior. They may even start handling being with you uniquely from how they treat the other ungodly friends of theirs. I've noticed some of the ungodly have actually tried to curb their cursing when they are around me, as they have very obviously noticed my light.

When your family and friends from back home start avoiding you, and becoming offended in you, think not that you should be alone in what has happened to you when they do this, because Jesus Himself went through it! "And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed thence. And when He was come into His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, 'Whence hath this Man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this Man all these things? And they were offended in Him. But Jesus said unto them, '

A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.' And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." (Matt. 13:53 - 58) So you see, just as you are offending family and friends with your belief in Christ, so He too offended His own townspeople trying to get them to believe in Him.

God has provided replacements for our collateral damage, fortunately. Paul wrote, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:26) It is also written, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. " (1 John 3:1) What does this mean to the Christian? It means that you who profess to be Christians are my family in Christ! You are my brother, or sister, or children, or parents in Christ! You who are Christians are my replacements for family and friends of a worldly nature that I lost!

Then of course, there will be the false teachers; you will have to be wary of them, that they not sway you from the truth. "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." (2 Pet. 2:1 - 2) If they teach a Jesus any different than the one of the gospels, these are to be avoided. They teach an inefficient Jesus, and ineffective Jesus, and some teach Jesus was nobody at all! They have extra books or literature and say these are in conjunction with the bible, but don't you believe it! No book of Mormon, no NWT bible, no watchtower fliers, no catechism, just the KJV (King James Version) is enough for me and you. This you have to teach the truth from their fiction, if it is possible they will hear you. If not, they, too, are collateral damage. But we are called to try and rescue them from the snare they are in! "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." (James 5:19 - 20) While this is generally meant for Christians gone astray, I am persuaded that even a false teacher can be converted.

So indeed, take up your cross, as I have, and follow Him, but know that, like Him, you will suffer tensions while its yoke is upon you, but the reward is eternal life, so worthy it is to follow Him, despite the losses!