I'm thinking today about the many times we do or say things unwisely in the name of Christ. It doesn't have to be as blatant as Pastor Jeremiah Wright who has saturated the news recently with his unwise, unloving, unChristlike sayings that have threatened to unseat Barak Obama's presidential bid.

No, it doesn't have to be someone this obvious or well-known or publicly exposed. Our motives don't have to be as politically motivated to be just as detrimental to God's kingdom. An unthinking word over the water cooler with a co-worker or across the fence with a neighbor or around the table with a family member can do just as much harm.

If the events of more than 2,000 years ago were making headlines in the media today, Peter might have replaced Jeremiah Wright in the news. After all, he, too, was known to represent Jesus. He, too, was noted for his impetuous words and actions. As Jesus' disciple, he'd seen a lot and would eventually head up his own ministry. But before Jesus went to the Cross, He went to the garden, and Peter went along. While Jesus spoke, fellow-disciple-turned-betrayer Judas arrived with his entourage of soldiers to take Jesus away.

And that really ticked off Peter. Suddenly, all his emotions of love and experience with Jesus must have collided. He must have believed that it was up to him to save Jesus from Judas' betrayal and the soldier's determination to kill Him. So Peter stepped in to save the day--and Jesus. In one fell swoop, he stretched out his hand, drew his sword, and cut off the high-priest's servant's ear.

What would you and I have done in his place? Out of frustration for wanting to do something, would we have done the wrong thing? Would we, too, have underestimated God's continued supernatural power with Jesus under these trying circumstances as we had seen in less crucial times? Would we have insisted God needed our help?

But Jesus, even in His hour of agony, stopped to set things right and to continue to teach this beloved disciple what he needed to know. Even though Peter had made some wrong moves and would shortly deny knowing Him, Jesus looked on Peter's heart and saw his love and desire to do the right thing. Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword away!"

His words remind me of a saying I once heard, "If you fight them with their own weapons, you fall into their power." Certainly, Jesus' power did not come from weapons as it did for the soldiers. And that's what Peter forgot. Jesus went on to say,

"Do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?" (Mt. 26:53-54).

Well, duh. The one thing Peter forgot is that Jesus, through God, was still all-powerful and totally in control. He forgot that everything, EVERYTHING that happens must first pass through God's hand. And he forgot that Scripture was being fulfilled before his very eyes, and that no one except God could alter what would happen.

So what's the takeout for us today? I believe 2 Cor. 10:3-5 sums it up best:
"For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.
Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,
bringing every though into captivity to the obedience of Christ."

The takeout for us is obedience to Christ instead of retaliation and responding as they respond. It's the Greek word hupakoe, and it means "attentive hearing, listening with compliant submission, assent, and agreement." Our job is obedience, His is everything else.

Jeremiah Wright had a platform in Illinois for doing the right thing. He didn't. Peter had a platform in the Garden for doing the right thing. He didn't either.

You and I have a platform where we are for speaking up for Christ in the right way. Are we speaking hateful words and lobbing off ears, or are we conveying confidence by remembering God's power and control and seeking His instructions for how to respond? Are we fighting back using their weapons and falling into their power, or are we attentively listening with compliant submssion to what God is telling us to do? Are we a plus or a minus, an asset or a liability, a perfume or a stench to the Kingdom?

It doesn't have to be a so-called servant of God speaking unwise things, making unwise decisions, and seeking to get even as we have seen on the news. You and I can be just as ineffective when we forget that at one word, God can change everything. Legions of angels can be called down to silence opposition. In a moment, weapons that seem so lethal can be dissolved into nothing.

But when after much prayer from His children God doesn't change what is going on, then He wants us to stay close to Him to learn how to respond to seemingly unfair situations. He wants to use us as light in a dark world. He wants us to share hope with the hopeless. He wants us to want them to want what we have.

That doesn't happen by using their weapons. It only happens by putting away our swords and by attentively listening to God with compliant submission, assent, and agreement for our daily marching orders. And when we do?

"Then [everyone] will know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give [them] into our hands" (1 Sam 17:47).

David believed these words and did as God said when he faced Goliath: "So David prevailed over the Philistine . . . .But there was no sword in the hand of David."

And we will prevail, too.