Whose Side AM I On?

But when Naaman had gone from him a short distance, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “See, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not accepting from his hand what he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.” 2 Kings 5:19-20

In my blog post on Christmas Eve, I wrote about ICE and the Somalis living in our community. I posed the question, Whose side am I on? In rereading it, I regret coming across as picking one side over the other because that almost instantly suggests that I support everything that side does and that I’m opposed to everything the other side does. As history-making events have once again unfolded in Minneapolis this week (we live a couple hours outside the city) I’ve struggled to understand what side I’m on and in doing so, I’ve struggled with the idea of picking sides.

We are a sharply divided nation with well-defined sides on this issue. In watching the multiple videos of the ICE shooting of a woman in her SUV, I was struck by how one’s interpretation of that video depends on which side a person was on. One friend pointed out that it was like deciding on pass interference in a football game – Whether you think it was pass interference depends on whose team you support. One side sees it as one way and the other side sees something completely different.

I’m honestly not sure what I think. From my perspective, there’s a part of me that is offended that this woman would purposefully obstruct, taunt, and impede law enforcement. What do you think is going to happen if you use your vehicle to interfere? Another part of me sees overaggressive federal agents sent to my state in a political battle, who seem to be looking for a fight. Why are they here? I’m sure there are illegal aliens who’ve done terrible things, but I’ve also personally met a lot of guys in jail who are incarcerated because of minor legal infractions. They’ve lived their whole lives here, working and paying taxes, but because their citizenship papers haven’t been processed, and because they had a DWI ten years ago, they’re now languishing in jail, awaiting deportation to a country they’ve never known. It seems absurd that we’re in this situation, but it also seems absurd that we’re spending billions of dollars to deport them.

So, I’m struggling with which side I’m on, not coming up with a very good answer. As soon as I think I’ve picked a side, I look around at the politicians I’m now aligned with, and I don’t feel very comfortable with either option. The problem with picking sides, particularly in politics, is that once I do, I feel I must support everything that side does.

The problem is that even those I consider to be the good guys, sometimes do bad things. This is illustrated in today’s passage. In the story, a Syrian (the bad guys) named Naaman was healed of his leprosy by an Israelite (the good guys) prophet named Elisha. Naaman converted to following God and thus became one of the good guys. He offered gifts to Elisha who refused. After Naaman left, Elisha’s servant (who was supposed to be one of the good guys) chased after Naaman to secretly get some reward for himself. The story illustrates that those on the bad side can do good things and those on the good side can do bad things.

So, in each conflict that has arisen in the news lately – and there have been a lot of bizarre events – I’ve found myself asking not, Which side am I on? But rather, asking myself, What is right? What is my right response? How would Jesus want me to act? I’m not responsible for passing moral judgment on every conflict, but I am responsible for my words and actions. I struggle with having a correct opinion on every news event, but when I simply ask how Christ wants me to act in a specific situation, I usually find the answer to be simpler.

Am I following God today? Or am I following myself? I can strive to find the right political opinion, but if I’m wandering from God, doing my own thing in my personal life, then I’m focused on the wrong issue. Am I loving my neighbors as Christ wants me to? If support of one political side causes me to embrace hate towards my neighbors, then I must rethink my position. How does Christ want me to act?

After my Christmas Eve post, one friend reminded me of an Abraham Lincoln quote. When asked if he thought God was on his side in the Civil War, Lincoln responded, “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”  

That’s the side I want to be on.

Faith in the Struggle  is my daily blog on faith and recovery. As I’m reading through the Bible, I daily attempt to understand what God is saying through his word and apply his will to my life. I’ve seen where a life of following myself goes – drug addiction. So now, in recovery, I make a daily attempt to follow God’s will instead of my own. In doing so, I’ve found a new life that I’m happy to share with anyone else who needs a new life.