WHAT IS YOUR CAUSE?
The word “cause” can mean that which an individual or group takes special interest in and is willing to support. The cause for the Christian is Jesus the Christ. If we take special interest in then we are involved in what it is that Jesus teaches by means of the Word of God. God, the Father, receives glory through Jesus Christ,His Son, in the church, which is the body of Christ (Ephesians 3:21; 2:20,21). The cause of Jesus Christ is seen when His followers diligently seek the kingdom of God in a proper way. The way to seek it, in which God is pleased, is to seek it first (Matthew 6:33). The foundation for such a cause is the course of righteousness.
The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel of His Son (Romans 1:16,17). God, by means of the written Word, defines what it takes then to be righteous. The cause of Christ is to be so vital to our thinking that we would be willing to die before we would give it up (Revelation 2:10). Lives lived out under the power of the gospel are an image which the world can see because we are changing into the kind of people which God wants (II Corinthians 3:18). The cause of Jesus Christ over time becomes the purpose for which we live. It is a purpose clearly defined as His purpose (Romans 8:28).
It is possible for individuals to lose sight of the cause, which they have espoused. Jesus said before the fall of Jerusalem that the love of many Christians would wax cold (Matthew 24:12). Paul warned the Gentiles who were being encouraged to accept the tenet of circumcision from the law of Moses, that they had fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4). The cause in our hearts for Jesus can be lost because the Word loses its meaning in our hearts or because the things of this world choke out the Word (Luke 8:13,14). It requires a constant vigil on our hearts to be sure we are in the narrow way laid out by God (II Peter 1:10).
In the midst of turmoil, which sometimes arises in the brotherhood, we are forced to wonder, what is the cause, which some are interested in? If the cause is Jesus the Christ ,then how easy it should be for faithful brethren to sit down and be able to see where this will lead. The trouble is that the cause which some are interested in is the cause of “proving that I am right”. Such “proof”, more times than not, is the wrong cause. Paul warned the brethren in Corinth about going to law at the expense of the image of the church before the world (I Corinthians 6:1-7). In the next verse he warns about the kind of conduct in which one Christian defrauds or cheats another Christian (verse 8).
Some live in such a “perfect world” that the idea that they could be wrong never enters the picture. When there is a disruption of sweet fellowship, one or both parties are wrong. If neither side can admit they acted, thought or behaved in a wrong way, the solution of the disruption of fellowship will never be found. One side waits on the other side to make a move. In private conversations and, sometimes, public action the idea is conveyed how wrong the other side is in the whole matter. As long as we remain behind closed doors or computer screens firing away at each other, a solution cannot be found.
The turning down of the heat in any disagreement can be achieved if both sides want the heat turned down for the sake of the cause of Christ. If one side wants the other side to walk on their “knees” to prove their repentance then the cause of Christ loses its effect in such a heart. I have an example of an individual coming back from the far country. His speech has been rehearsed and his mind was made up. He was returning home. The father ran to meet him. This is of course found in Luke 15. It is about the joy when the wayward one returns. What if the case is not of a wayward brother but rather one who misunderstood what we said or what we did by our actions? Is not the spirit of “running to meet them” not a strong part of our motivation? It is if our cause is the cause of Jesus the Christ, who loved us all and died for us all.