Should Christians Go for the Jugular?

Whenever we are wrong or we have a very substantive disagreement with someone, there is a great temptation to not only “win the argument” (whatever that means), but also to see our enemies, both real and ideological, find a swift and embarrassing demise.

And here is the scary thing: Like David, there will likely be nobody in our inner circle who will counsel us away from pursuing our enemy’s last pound of flesh. Nobody to say, “Hey, wait a minute, trust the Lord, don’t seek vengeance.”

We live in a culture that encourages this kind of bloodlust.

Politicians don’t simply run for office, they dig and search for the one piece of dirt that will sink their opponents. We can’t simply disagree with people, we have to forward emails detailing their utter depravity and Machiavellian schemes.

Church leaders do this as well.

Christian bloggers do this.

We can’t have civil arguments over substantive doctrine, we must wish our opponents the swiftest possible destruction.

This is why we need David’s example of leadership. When he could have ended Saul’s life in embarrassing humility (dying while going to the bathroom—can you imagine a more ignoble death?), rather David directed his thoughts upward and trusted in the Lord.

This attitude of forgiveness, repentance and trust is vital for every follower of Christ. It makes us countercultural.

It’s even more important for Christian leaders, for what we model in moderation, our followers will exhibit in excess. If we create cultures that celebrate retribution and cheap rhetorical victories, those who hang on our every word will take this to an extreme. And instead of creating disciples of Jesus, we’ll create disciples of an insular, spiteful movement. Let’s not do this.

Instead, when given the opportunity to humiliate those who have hurt us or those who disagree, let’s put the sword back in the sheath and walk away.