A Brief Meditation on Google

(Image courtesy of https://img.washingtonpost.com.)
"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15).
"Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial [the devil], or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,
'I will dwell in them and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
'Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,' says the Lord.
'And do not touch what is unclean;
And I will welcome you.
'And I will be a father to you,
And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,'
Says the Lord Almighty" (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
"You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4).
"And He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40).
Avoiding all extremes, let us wisely interpret the Word of God as we live in this corrupt and fallen world.


Today, Google published their 2016-2017 Doodle 4 Google winner's artwork on its search engine.  While the doodle itself (titled "A Peaceful Future") is artistically creative, it evokes immediate analysis on my part.  To be more explicit, there is no unity all those represented in the doodle have to share.  There is no such thing as world peace.

First of all, God prophesied in Genesis that there will always be animosity between the children of Christ and the children of the devil - and that Christ will be victorious in all battles.  There is suffering for believers because there is enmity between them and non-believers.  (Notice the difference, however: it is the non-believers who are the aggressors and persecutors; it is the people of God who are the sufferers!)  Therefore, peace cannot exist between the two.

Furthermore, the apostle Paul exhorts the believers in Corinth to not share in the same thinking or passions as unbelievers.  Why not?  Because there is no partnership or commonness between good and evil, light or darkness.  Though it is unpopular to say people are evil, it is not any less true (Romans 3:10, 5:12).  Christ has no peace with the devil; likewise, neither do His followers.

Believers have the mind of Christ, which produces in us new affections and passions for God and His ways that were not present before our repentance.  Unbelievers have not this mind, but continue in their disobedience toward our God, having never repented of the sin of which they are guilty.

Even so, James summatively says that anyone who makes friendship with the world - its way of thinking and its style of living - is an enemy of God.  Therefore, the man of God will seek God and His ways, not the world's.

All in all, we must return to the Law of Christ, which is love.  Jesus exhorts all who would follow after Him to love God with all their hearts, souls, and minds.  This means loving God exclusively, not partnering with the enemy or false doctrines.  This means loving God's ways exclusively, not attempting to create harmony according to the world's pattern where there will never be any.

And the second requirement God has for His people is for them to love others, whether believer or unbeliever.  Of course, this word "love" must be defined and explained.  This does not mean that believers are to agree with others in order to create harmony.  Love means to do to others what you would want them to do for you (Matthew 7:12).  If someone is sad, let us offer comfort.  If someone is angry, let us offer a listening ear.  If someone is grieving, let us pray.  Love is by no means an acceptance of one's beliefs or validation of one's sins.  That is not love; that is falsehood.


Oh God, please give us wisdom to live rightly, and to walk in the light of Your Word as in the daytime, not stumbling around as in the dark - as people without a light.  Lord God, have mercy on us and teach us Your ways and show us Your glory.  Amen.

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