What Jesus said: “Whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:39). Or: Unless a person is an outright proclaimed enemy of the gospel, he can be considered a friend. That means there are lots of friends out there waiting to be claimed.
What it seems like we heard: “Whoever is not for us is against us.” Or in other words, anyone who is not one of us is our enemy. That would mean the world is populated mostly with our foes.
These are actually statements of differing worldviews. How you think about the world determines which reality is true for you. Personally, I like the worldview where I assume friendship instead of anticipating enmity.
I think as Christians in this culture, we have made lots of enemies we didn’t have to make. We have drawn lines in the sand that were not there in the first place, and accused people on the other side of the line for the crime of being over there when we drew it. (We never gave them a chance, in other words.) It’s almost as if we have had to create and maintain a good supply of enemies in order to fulfill this self-proclaimed animosity with the world that incorrectly defines us.
This is not a good way to behave when representing the God of second chances—the God who, if He had not been abundantly gracious would never have called us His friends, and would never have given us even a first chance. I think it best to assume there are a lot of friends of God out there, just waiting to be found.
The writer of Hebrews wrote: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). That’s truly giving the benefit of a doubt to those who are not “of us.” It’s a good place to begin.
John Fischer The Catch 
Our gracious God… that is so true! I praise Him everyday that I don’t get what I deserve, and that I do get what I don’t deserve. His mercy and grace are bountiful!
John, You have a lot of fans on here, but I wonder how many of them actually read the Bible. In Matthew 12:30 it says, “He who is not with me is against me…” So Jesus is saying both: those who are not against me are with me, and those who are not with me are against me. In other words, there is no middle ground, no fence-sitting, no politically-correct position. We are either in His camp or in His enemy’s camp.
Sinful man is God’s enemy. Time and again Christ told His disciples that if people hated Him, they would hate them; if they accepted them, they would accept Him. There really is a war going on here, and it’s not political – it’s spiritual. BUT – and this is a big but – He told us we are to love our enemies.
So we CAN go out into the world and love everyone, but we need to realize who our enemies are: 1) the devil, 2) the world and 3) our own sinful flesh. We cannot be Pollyannas going around playing the “Glad Game,” expecting everyone to be our friend. It doesn’t work that way. The minute we speak the Truth, things start falling into place and out of place. God’s forces go into action, but so do the devil’s. Suddenly a line HAS been drawn in the sand and people start lining up on either side of it. Read the book of Acts. Every time Paul spoke, people lined up on either side of the issue. Every time Christ spoke in the Temple, people either said, “He’s crazy,” or they said, “These are not the words of a crazy man.”
So, I don’t get your “let’s just make friends” post today. It ought to be “Friends of God, Enemies of the World” – the “world” used in the Biblical sense, meaning the systems on earth that the devil controls and manipulates (Ephesians 6).
For every friend we make, we are going to make two enemies. That Muslim you befriend has a family that is going to hate your guts. That addict that you help to recover has a dealer that is going to hate your guts. That gang member you help to get out of the gang has friends that are going to hate your guts. That co-dependent person that you help has another half that is going to hate your guts. You don’t go around speaking the Truth and setting people free without stepping on some toes and some bank accounts.
All I’m saying is, let’s keep things in perspective and balance. This is not “Make Friends Week” unless it’s also “Make Enemies Week” – they go hand-in-hand. Christ did not come to bring peace (Matthew 10:34) except within. Okay, now all you mealy-mouth goody-two-shoes come out of the woodwork and tell me how I “just don’t get it.” 🙂
John, I wasn’t trying to shoot you down; just trying to add some additional light. You’re still batting 950 in my book, which is higher than anyone else I know. Sometimes I actually sit in awe of what you’ve written and wonder, “How does he keep coming up with so many great observations?” You really are King of the Devotionals. I appreciate you and thank you for The Catch. It helps to make my day every day. I guess that makes me a fan. Sheeesh. 🙂