Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
- John 18:36
Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fightlike a boxer beating the air.
- 1 Corinthians 9:26
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy 4:7
The weapons we fightwith are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
- 2 Corinthians 10:4
Fight the good fightof the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
- 1 Timothy 6:12
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.
- James 4:1-2
Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
- Revelation 2:16
Boilerplate
I’m Harold Dykstra. I’m retired, but I go to food bank distributions all over Tracy and talk to people that need someone who will listen to their story. My time is well spent. A police lieutenant suggested that I write down the conversations that I had with an angel. I did not know she was an angel at the time. The angel, for a little over a year, indwelled a life-sized posable action figure my children bought me, so that I would not be perceived as travelling alone. And in a way, she was training me for what I do while talking to the needy. She probed my heart to find out what I believed and how I express love for others. She changed my life.
In her leaving, she said someone would come. I had thought that was Jesus, in His second coming, but a new Babs, a little older, the model for the posable action figure arrived. While I had no desire to start over with romance, Morrie helped her move in, thinking she was the other Babs who had returned.
This Week’s Question
Last week, Babs remembered her past and felt guilty.
This week, she rescued Joe, the boy that adopted her as his “ornery” grandma, okay, honorary grandma.
When Babs came home, she was a bit ruffled. I asked what happened on her walk.
Babs said, “I walked to Joe’s house and as I approached the house, I saw Joe on the grass in front of his house and a boy on top of him. I learned that the boy’s name was Barry. Barry was hitting Joe in the stomach and in the face. He was demanding that Joe produce some lunch money tomorrow. I told him to get off my friend. Barry asked what was it to me what he did to Joe. Joe said I was his ornery grandma, and I told Barry that I was very ornery right then. Barry would not stop so I shoved him off Joe. Barry started kicking me. I am going to bruise badly. He called me the ‘b’ word. I told him that he needed to watch his language. Then he spewed out profanity, using God’s name a lot. He would not quit kicking me, and I told him to stop. He kept kicking me, so I stepped on his growing parts. Is that the polite way to say it?” I nodded. “Barry kept kicking, and he started hitting my legs with his fists until I pressed down with my foot a little harder. The fight was out of him by then. That’s when Barry’s father showed up. He had heard and saw enough. It seems Barry got the idea to extort money just because Tony Painter has been working steady for a couple of weeks. Barry’s father is at his wit’s end. Barry rarely has two cogent thoughts in a row, and when he does, it’s something bad. He made Barry apologize, but an apology with a snarl is not much of an apology. His father told him what was coming when they got home. Barry started screaming, ‘no!’ I told his father that he would be walking funny for a while and wasn’t that enough. His father said he loves pain, but the reason he was crying was that the television would be off. The video games would be locked in a cabinet. And he would have to read a book. For Barry, that was a fate worse than death, and his father had read the books. He would know if Barry was really reading.”
I told Babs that she was lucky that the father wasn’t a bully too, and Babs could have been arrested for abuse to a minor.
Then Babs started to cry. “But, what of Joe, Harold? He has bruises all over his body. The Painters do not have much money, even when Tony works each day of the week. Why steal from a poor man?”
I shrugged, “Like you said what his Dad said. Those two marbles inside his head rarely come together to have a thought. But he knows how to use his size against weaker children. Is Joe alright?”
Babs nodded. “A swollen cheek. A swollen lip. The body blows look like they were superficial. I stayed around and fixed Joe some food. The worst of it was the swollen lip. Otherwise, Joe was okay when I left. I’ll call Tony in a while.”
I sighed, “You are not as naïve as the young Babs. That could have turned out much differently. There are people who have gone to jail for less physical contact with a child.”
Babs said, “But he was not acting like a child. He was bigger than Joe and he was evil, Harold.”
I smiled, “But he was a child made in the image of God. We all have a sin nature, but it affects some of us a lot more than others.”
Babs asked, “What should I have done? Let him continue beating up my ornery grandson?”
I replied, “Jesus told Pilate that His followers would fight if this was His kingdom, but His kingdom was in another place (John 18:36). Of course, when Jesus returns, the angel army will be with Him and He will fight. But our fighting should not be reckless. Paul talks about it in metaphor in 1 Corinthians and in 2 Timothy 4. He fought the good fight. He did not shadow box. He ran the race. I know. Paul mixed his metaphors there, but when you consider the games on Mount Olympus in those days mostly revolved around running and fighting, it would make sense that you not only run, but you fight.”
Babs shrugged, “If you say so, Harold. But where does it say that I cannot step on a boy’s growing thing?”
I suggested, “Second Corinthians 10:4 says that we do not fight with the weapons of this world. It takes divine power to demolish strongholds. And in First Timothy 6:12, Paul encourages Timothy to continue fighting the good fight and Paul mentions Timothy’s testimony. We fight with what God has given us, and we fight with God’s Holy Word. James 4 speaks of fighting and quarrels starting when we do not go to God first.”
Babs moaned, “But Joe was already in the heat of the battle. I had to act fast.”
I nodded, “Your prayer does not have to be an elaborate one, Babs. It could be, ‘God, help me do the right thing! Amen.’ But to close, let’s look at the letter to the church at Pergamum. They had been enticed like Balaam told Balak. The people were enticed with idol worship and sexual misconduct. But that type of sin should be fought with the sword of His mouth. To understand that, we have to go back to Revelation 1 where John sees Jesus and His face glowed, but out of his mouth, so it was His tongue, was a double-edged sword. I think that sword is the same sword as in Revelation 19 that will strike down the nations. Will it be a sword, lashing back and forth, ripping people to bits, or will it be sharp words that tell the people what sins their nation is guilty of and the people will be torn apart by the guilt. These people that He is fighting are not among the elect. Those members of the elect have been caught up in the skies to join Him in the fight.”
Babs scrunched her nose and giggled, “After last week, I do not feel guilty, so I am glad you cleared that up. So, we use God, God’s power, and God’s Word. We may have to do more, but we should pray and try to be peacemakers. My misstep might have escalated the fight. I confess, Harold. I was only thinking of Joe’s wellbeing.”
At that moment, Babs’ phone rang. It was Tony Painter. Babs put him on speaker. “Babs, this is Tony. I want to thank you for breaking up the fight this afternoon. Barry’s father just came by with some cash, claiming that Barry had extorted the money from Joe. And he brought Barry by to apologize. He said that Barry was grounded, not allowed to play video games or watch TV, but if Joe had a video game, they could play it together. Barry was bummed that we had practically no games at all and far from the latest game system, but they settled on a fairly tame game, and they played well together. I think I talked them into coming to church with us on Sunday. I owe it all to you, Babs.”
Babs said, “Let’s let Jesus get all the glory, Tony. The way I handled it, things might not have turned out so well, but God even helps when we don’t do things the best way.”
Tony said, “Just wanted you to know how it turned out. We’ll see you Sunday if not before.”
And I said, “Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.”
Babs leaned into me and kissed me on the lips. I was enjoying those kisses more and more.
Credits
All these conversations remind me of my conversations with my wife. We would talk about anything and everything. And most of the time, it sounded like a discussion in a Sunday school class.
I have had encounters with such bullies, but in my day it was for power and being the top guy of the playground, but my sons were beaten up to extort lunch money. They skipped school to avoid the beatings, but once we knew they were not getting on the bus and going to school, we told the two different schools, elementary and middle schools, what was happening. They had teachers and an assistant principal hiding in the bushes and caught the bullies as they systematically roughed up half the children getting off the bus when it stopped at the school.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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