Fruit of the Spirit Series: Love- Part 1 of 9

         These 9 parts will seek to show the character of a godly believer in ways that should be sought through spiritual disciplines. However, the main focus of this series is not on spiritual disciplines, but on the kind of character that is part of our goal in such pursuits. Identifying the goal of our maturity will help us to clarify what we are pursuing and what we are not pursuing. Far from being a legalistic list, this is a vision of who you could be in Christ if we draw close to him. The first of these 9 qualities is love. Most people are very familiar with the passage in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

         The most obvious, consistent theme here is that love centers on other people. You can see this in Jesus' proclomation of the two greatest commandments in Matthew 22:36-39:

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[b] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

          Here, we see that all of God's commandments in the Bible revolve around loving God and other people. These include not just the people who are easy to love either. Matthew 5:43-47 tells us:

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[h] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies[i] and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

          Now, love does not mean that you need to be best friends with every person you come into contact with; that is a completely unrealistic expectation. You can tell that this previous passage disagrees with such a notion because he still uses the word "enemies" to describe your relationship with the other person. Love is not about developing two way street relationships with all mankind. It is an attitude of the heart that seeks the best for the other person. The most loving thing you can do for someone else is to draw them closer to Christ  . Don't let this idea get watered down, either. Sometimes, the most loving word of affirmation is one of constructive criticism and confrontation. When you avoid confrontation, you are not acting out of love, but out of fear. A spirit of love is not timid. This is shown in 2 Timothy 1:7:

7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

         You may have heard this scripture before, but have you ever noticed that this one spirit given to us by God contains both power and self-discipline as well as love? Power and Self-Discipline are needed to confront evil in the world and in the people we show love towards. Love is not afraid of retribution for love's actions; love dares to do the loving, right thing, no matter the cost. This does not mean that one is to forgoe all personal interests while looking out for the good of others, though. A good place to develop this idea comes from Philippians 2:3-4:

 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

         Again, this verse reinforces the idea that we should not be looking out for ourselves alone. However, if  you take a close look at verse 4, the first part says that we should still be looking out for own interests and not abandon those interests completely. It just says to consider the needs of others in addition to your own needs. This counters the idea of being a doormat. Letting someone else use you for whatever minor thing they wish you to do is not love. That is manipulation and deceit and, additionally, is not actually showing love to the manipulator. Manipulation should be confronted with love and gentleness. This means addressing the problem without using it as an opportunity to lash out and take revenge on the person who has wronged you. The idea of being a doormat might seem to be pushed by Matthew 5:38-42:

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[g] 39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

          These actions are isolated, minor injuries that are not part of a pattern of abuse, but come from the enemy being far from the love of God. In these singular, isolated moments of insult, we are encouraged to overlook the offense and respond in love. This idea is highlited further by Proverbs 12:16:

16 A fool shows his annoyance at once,
    but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

           Here, we see the prudent man overlook this insult where the fool lashes out in anger. However, also consider Proverbs 22:3:

3 A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge,    but the simple keep going and suffer for it.

          This verse advocates that we do not submit ourselves to cycles of abuse, but rather take refuge from danger in our own interest. This self-interest is not selfish, but is taking care of the heart, mind, body, and spirit that God has given us. This is reflected in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:

19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 

         Another aspect of righteousness, justice, begs us not to understand love as being a doormat. Dueteronomy 16:19 tells us:

19 Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

          We are not to understand love as opposed to justice. The reason that we ourselves are not punished for our sins is not because God "lovingly" overlooked our offenses, but let them fall on the head of Christ instead and that only becomes effective once we accept Christ's lordship. This tells us two things: Firstly, true love does not mean turning a blind eye to evil and injustice. Secondly, the goal of love is not to escape punishment for donig wrong deeds, but is to draw us closer to God. The reason that we overlook an insult is not to thwart justice; if they die without Christ, that sin will be one of the many that is punished by banishment to hell. However, love overlooks these small instances because they communicate to the offender that you are living for more than this world and points them towards Christ. Your action is meant to pull them closer to Christ. Here, we see that love is satisfied by pulling our enemy closer to Christ while justice is still satisfied by Jesus' sacrifice. If we misunderstand this idea of "overlooking an offense", we will think that submitting to abuse is good because love means keeping the ugly "justice" monster from attacking our enemy. Do not misunderstand. Justice will have its way. Bowing under abuse will not save the other person from justice and is definitely not how God meant for us to express love. Here, you show love differently. Your actions are representative of God. Since God seeks justice, you show the offender the righteousness of God when you hold them accountable for their actions; this draws them closer to Christ; drawing others to Christ is the goal of love.
         In conclusion, in order to become more loving, we need to be clear about what love is and what love is not. Love is not a fire where we burn up and destroy ourselves to accomplish good for other people. Paul tells us that this mindless self sacrifice does not equal love in 1 Corinthians 13:3:

3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

         Love, instead, is seeking to draw other people closer in their relationship with God while also obeying the other parts of the Bible that seek justice and good stewardship of one's own mind, body, and soul in addition to, but not in contradiction with, love.

Fruit of the Spirit Series: Introduction

This blog series will be about the nine fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

          However, before I start the series, I wish to speak a few words about the fruits of the Spirit in a general way. First of all, as you might notice from experience, several Christians you know, including ourselves, do not experience or exhibit these fruits of the spirit; moreover, there are a few Christians I know who show none of these nine fruit. Does this mean that this person is not saved? Maybe, but I would not be so hasty to come to that conclusion. Like I said, we do not exhibit all these qualities all the time and, also, some people have come from difficult backgrounds. The point is that just because the Holy Spirit resides in all of us upon receiving Christ does not mean that all of these fruit show up at the same time. Instead, it would be more appropriate to say that these nine qualities are the "fruit" of the Spirit's labor in your life over time and come with maturity. This is consistent with the passage in verses 16 through 18, which says,

16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

         Thus, we experience these fruits of the Spirit as we grow in maturity and godliness (for more details on this process, refer back to my earlier post, "A Pattern of Growth: 2 Peter 1:5-7", where I discuss the details and action steps of growing in maturity. You will see that the fruit of the Spirit discussed in this series will begin to show up in the stage I called 'Godliness'.) These fruit cannot be forced through willpower, good acts, or good intentions, but are the result of spending lots of meaningful time with God (aka spiritual disciplines).
         Additionally, I've found that these fruit of the Spirit are a really great tool for assessing if something is an idol. Galatians 5 tells us that the nine fruit are the result of a relationship with God. However, if you are personally reflecting on your values and realize that you are trying to gain the fruit of the Spirit through pursuing something besides God, that something is an idol for you. For instance, I once had a friend counseling someone who said that he had to get into a relationship with a specific girl because he wouldn't feel any peace without having the situation resolved and couldn't push himself to be patient or self-controlled until he and the girl had made some sort of solid commitment to each other. If you're paying attention, you can see that he listed three fruits of the Spirit as impossible to get except through a relationship with this girl. Clearly, this relationship was an idol, and my friend was able to council the guy better once we had applied the fruit of the Spirit rule. (You may remember that I have a past two part series on this blog called "Heavenly Wisdom". This verse is actually a helpful addition to those two verses when it comes to making difficult decisions. As with the other two, this passage has been really life changing and has guided me through very dark and cloudy waters.)
          An additional nugget of wisdom comes from the end part of Galatians 5:23:

Against such things there is no law.

          To be succinct, try to avoid following rules/standards that tell you to avoid using one of the fruit of the Spirit since such a rule is likely not meant to make you more Christ-like. For instance, depending on one's background, a guy might have been raised with his peers telling him that gentleness is a sign of weakness and should be avoided. While this is an obvious example, it shows that a lot of what our culture tells us to do and be will contradict the fruit of the Spirit and thus should be ignored in such instances.
          To conclude this general conversation on the fruit of the Spirit, let it suffice to say that these fruit are developed through spiritual disciplines over time and are essential to life and ministry. However, the point of this series will be focused on these nine fruit as standards for godly living. Therefore, while we develop these fruit over time and these fruit are the work of the Spirit instead of our own willpower, there are some very real ways in which we are called to emulate these nine fruit and track our progress in becoming Christ-like. To this end, I will do my best to clarify what the Bible teaches about these nine qualities and challenge you to seek growth in all nine ways. However, let me warn that this should not be used as a tool of guilt and self-condemnation, but should be pursued in the grace of God. 1 Peter 5:10 tells us that

10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

          This verse is saying that, as we pursue God's glory, we will grow weak and maybe even falter, but we shouldn't let that discourage us, but rather trust God to give us the strength and grace to live out the godly life (there is a lot more written on this theme in my post "From Favoritism to Flourishing- Part 7 of 9: Grace Abounds: 2 Corinthians 9:8". Bear with me as I reference my own work, lol.)
           The next post on this blog will start the fruit of the Spirit series with the first fruit: love. Until then...
In Christ,
Simeon Snow

Test Everything: 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

         Today's post is about a  fairly simple idea that is often repeated in scripture, but is forgotten by many Christians today. Let's start out with 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22:

21 Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Avoid every kind of evil.

          We, as Christians, are called to examine whatever enters our lives, whether it be a friend, thought, hobby, etc. to see if it draws us closer to God. This command tells us to not be passive about what we let into our lives. If we sense that a violent video game pulls us away emotionally or spiritually from our relationship with God, it needs to be weeded out. This process of weeding out what is bad and embracing what is good should be led by what we see in the Bible and prayer. This idea comes from 1 Timothy 4:4-5, which says:

4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

         (More thoughts and explanation of this particular passage can be found in my earlier blog series, Heavenly Wisdom) As I mentioned earlier, what needs to be grown in or thrown out can be a variety of things from hobbies to friendships. For example, we shouldn't develop deep friendships with just anyone because 1 Corinthians 15:33 tells us:

33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

          and Proverbs 13:20 says:

 20 He who walks with the wise grows wise,
    but a companion of fools suffers harm.

          We do not enter into meaningful friendships with people who will draw us away from God. This is not to forbid non-Christian friendships at all, but it does mean that the inner group of friends that you let speak into your life need to be mature Christians who are encouraging you to grow in your relationship with God. They will be the ones who will guide and strengthen you through your times of weakness and confusion.
         From my last post, you can already see that we need to check thoughts as they are entering our mind to see if they will benefit us or not. For review, Philippians 4:8 says:

 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

          A similar word in 1 John 4:1-3 tells us not to let ideas that come from influential speakers or any other "spirit" (maybe in the form of a thought) stay in your mind without examining it to see if it is from God:

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

          This passage warns us of the multitude of false teachings in the world and tells us that we need to examine ideas that enter our life to make sure that they do not contradict the Bible and sound doctrine. We are told to reject these false ideas even if the source is very convincing! Paul affirms this in Galatians 1:8-9

8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

          In conclusion to this line of thought, we need to consider not only our own needs and walk with God, but we also need to consider the needs of those around us. 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 says:

23 “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive. 24 Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

          and Ephesians 4:29 says:

 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

           Try and make a habit of pausing once or twice a day to ask yourself if what you are currently doing or thinking is helping you draw close to God, hurting that relationship, or is neutral. Developing a testing attitude over time requires practice, but draws great benefits.
In Christ,
Simeon Snow

Healthy Thinking: Philippians 4:8

           Today's blog entry is a break down and analysis of an important verse in the Bible: Philippians 4:8. While this verse may seem to be all about "happy thoughts", I wish to show that it is an essential part of the Christian lifestyle that empowers the Christian to live a godly life. To start out with, here is Philippians 4:8:

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

          TRUE
            Let's start with the word 'true'. I would describe this adjective in terms of trying to only think about things that we know for sure. For instance, you see two of your acquaintances looking your way and lean into each other to laugh and whisper. This would be an easy time to think that they are saying something negative or degrading about you. However, you do not know if your suspicion is true or not. Since you cannot prove it to be true, it is very pointless to try and figure out why they were laughing about you since you do not even know if you were the topic of their conversation or not. There are several other great examples of this kind of thought, like wondering what someone's opinion is, obsessing on whether your attractive friend is interested in you, or trying to predict what God will do in your life in the distant future. These are all examples of thoughts that waste time or even hurt the believer. What tends to happen when we are meditating on what is uncertain is that we fill the unknown void with our anxieties and fantasies. For instance, if I see people who I believe to be laughing at me, I will quickly jump to the conclusion that they are laughing about my biggest insecurity, whether that be a flaw in my posture, appearance, action, beliefs, or any number of things. Satan also makes big use of these opportunities to manipulate us into believing anything. This idea is shown in 1 Peter 5:7-8:

7 Cast all your anxiety on [God] because he cares for you.
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

          Since our anxieties are openings that allow our enemy in, we are told to be self-controlled. As it says, we are to control our thought life by casting our anxiety on God. If we do not practice self-discipline, our hearts will be guided to wherever Satan would wish and leave us in a timid and paralyzed state. This is not God's will for us, as shown in 2 Timothy 1:7:

 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

           To exercise this self-discipline and power in the thought life, limit the amount of thinking you do about things that you do not know to be true. It may not always be bad to wonder about what could be, but, more often than not, we need to focus on what God has given us to do or plan today. This is why Matthew 6:34 tells us

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

           and James 4:13-17 says

 13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17 Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.

         My next section will deal with some of the adjectives that are virtually synonymous:
        NOBLE, RIGHT, ADMIRABLE, EXCELLENT, PRAISEWORTHY
       This has to deal with seeing the best in people and in our days and learning to affirm and focus on those positive aspects rather than entirely focus on what is negative. Now, unlike what the world would tell you, there actually are times when confronting negative behavior is the right thing to do and it is alright to think about and mentally prepare for such a confrontation. However, the way to do this is not to constantly meditate on the wrong that is being committed and the anger that comes with that thought. Such thoughts get us nowhere, hurt us, and open up opportunities for Satan to do damage. Look at Ephesians 4:26-27:

26 “In your anger do not sin”[a]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.

          Another great verse for this discussion is Colossians 3:12-14:

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

         Whatever the situation, we are told to have the right heart about it and not let those negative thoughts dominate our lives. They can and will consume us. Instead, we are to think and meditate upon what is positive in our lives. This is all part of the spiritual discipline of Thanksgiving, where we process all the blessings that God has given us and let that remembrance empower us to pursue God in the future. Let us not forget what God has done, as some did in Psalm 106:11-13:

11 The waters covered their adversaries;
    not one of them survived.
12 Then they believed his promises
    and sang his praise.
13 But they soon forgot what he had done
    and did not wait for his counsel.

           Instead, may we cry with David in Psalm 77:10-11:

 10 Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
    the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

          This remembrance will draw us deeper into our relationship with God and sanctify us. This process is shown right before our theme verse in Philippians 4:6-7:

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

          Changing our thought life in this way will also expand God's kingdom and push out Satan's, as shown in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5:

 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

          Let us continue on to what is
         PURE
         Let's start off with the smaller idea of sexually pure thoughts, as shown in Matthew 5:28:

28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

         and Job 31:1:

1 “I made a covenant with my eyes
    not to look lustfully at a girl.

         However, I would like to expand that idea to thinking that stays pure in our commitment to God. Another way to say this is to not think of anything as having more value than God and to meditate with love and awe on who God is and what he has done. This is also known as delighting ourselves in God. This kind of thinking will fulfill us like nothing else in the world can. Psalm 37:4 speaks of this:

4 Delight yourself in the Lord
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

          Finally, let us discuss what is
          LOVELY 
         From what I've seen, Satan sometimes attacks people by putting ugly thoughts in their minds. These can come in the form of nightmares or just random thoughts about horrible and grotesque things. If these thoughts come to mind, please be aware that it might be spiritual attack that is coming against you. To fight this, arm yourself mentally by thinking about the lovely things that come from God. Look at Ephesians 6:10-12:

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

        These are all the thoughts that I can currently conjure up on the topic of the thought life. Please consider my thoughts and the topic and see if you can apply them. Growing in this area has impacted all the areas of my life and I would love to help you achieve the same. If you have more specific questions, feel free to contact me.
In Christ,
Simeon Snow

God's Side: 1 Samuel 4:3

           Today's message is about adopting a particular attitude toward all of the opinions that you form over a lifetime. There is a degree to which Christians believe that all of their opinions and ideals are based directly from the Word of God and thus should themselves be infallible. Now, there are definitely some pretty sure positions on what the Bible tells us is right from wrong. However, apart from that, we need to recognize our own fallen nature whenever we form these opinions, especially when we start to believe that these opinions come from God himself. I was reading through the beginning of 1 Samuel and I was struck by a passage where the Israelites had just been thoroughly defeated by the Philistines. 1 Samuel 4:3 continues:

3 When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”

          Instead of asking if God was displeased with something, they proceeded to call forth the ark of the Lord to make sure that they would win next time. Now, to put this in context, the two sons of Eli the priest, Hophni and Phinehas, were leading the people in wickedness, God had already confronted their father about the nature of their evil, and Eli was not able and/or fully willing to convince them to turn from their evil ways. The people of Israel, fully knowledgeable about these state of affairs, must not have thought God was too concerned about this wickedness that was being allowed in the kingdom when they called forth the ark of the Lord to the battlefield with Hophni and Phinehas leading the way. It may strike you as interesting that this is one of the few times that Israel calls upon and depends on the Lord to deliver the day, but he ignores their plea. So, as you can predict, verses 10-11 tell us that

10 So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

         Do I need to mention again that these people viewed themselves as having God on their side of the battle? How many times in our different social, relational, and political spheres do we assume that God is on our side without question? As much as we expect ourselves able to discern God's side from scripture, there is a place for fear and awe that comes from our inability to read God's mind. Isaiah 55:8-9 says:

 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

            and, about our plans, James 4:13-16 says:

 13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

          When we make plans and form sides on important issues, we need to keep a listening ear to God's voice and never assume that we've got God's opinion fully understood. Heed the warning of Proverbs 18:2:

 2 A fool finds no pleasure in understanding
    but delights in airing his own opinions.

            Instead, as wise Christian men and women, we are supposed to be open to correction and growth and be willing to work with people of different positions except in cases of clear contradiction of God's Word. Instead be like the wise man of Proverbs 12:15

 15 The way of a fool seems right to him,    but a wise man listens to advice.

            The Bible actually advises us that, in some small matters, that there is room to keep one's opinions private in order to preserve peace. Romans 14:19-22 says

 19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. 22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.

            It is not wrong to take a position on an issue or to advocate it publicly, but what I am advising is to use wisdom and discretion in when and how you express these opinions and to keep a humble mind about what your opinion actually is: an opinion. God cannot be controlled and be drafted into whatever army we choose him to be in. Therefore, as we seek to know the mind of God, let us treat him with reverence and respect. A similar point came from Abraham Lincoln: (who, as most Christians would admit, was on the right side of his war, but still said) "Sir, 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".
           The opposite of my initial story, where the Israelites called forth the ark to support their side without question, is when David tells his followers to take the ark back to Jerusalem when they are hoping to help him with it as he flees the evil plans of his son, Absalom, in 2 Samuel 15:25-26:

25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. 26 But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.

             In closing, Hebrews 12:14-15 sums up my message here:

14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

In Christ,
Simeon Snow