Sometimes dealing with a problem makes you look like the bad guy. It’s just the way things work. And it often takes a good bit of courage to be seen as the villain for doing the right thing.
And as I watched Minnesota Governor Tim Walz begin to say that he would move to work more with ICE, I realized that because the Trump administration decided to deal with a problem chaos ensued and things might just get better.
A Money-Making Girl Freed
We are told in Acts 16 of a girl that “had a spirit of divination” that “brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling” (Acts 16:16). She followed Paul and his companions around for many days until Paul became annoyed and cast the spirit out of her.
Now, after a few days I am sure Paul understood this girl’s role in the lives of her owners. And I’m sure he also understood that real problems may come his way if he dealt with the problem. But Paul, in Paul’s fashion took action anyway and cast the spirit out of her.
This predictably led to anger from her owners. They had Paul and Silas dragged out to be judged in the marketplace. And here, chaos ensued as the men were beaten by a mob.
Was the chaos Paul’s fault?
Or would we say that it was the fault of this town for enriching a man in this way?
I’m sure that no one thinks Paul started the fervor. But there is no doubt that when Paul did the right thing, chaos ensued.
Hezekiah’s Reforms and Ensuing Turmoil
Hezekiah is another example of this. He had the places if false worship torn down throughout Assyria, which was commanded by God
“He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.”
2 Kings 18:4-5 ESV
But this was an act of defiance that caused chaos. Many of these idols were forced upon God’s people by Assyria and this righteous action through them into a chaotic mess to wade through with Assyria.
But we would never say that it was Hezekiah that had done wrong. He upended the status quo and chaos ensued.
He dealt with the problem. I’m sure he knew it could cause problems, but he did it anyway.
A Thought Experiment
I would like to make my point with a little thought experiment. And here it is.
Imagine a new pastor is hired to work at a 250 member Baptist Church. This place is historic, complete with a beautiful pipe organ and a choir. And the music they make is truly beautiful.
Now imagine that the organ player is committing adultery by sleeping with the choir director who is also cheating on his wife. You have beautiful music and a deep sin issue. And a lot of the church knows this is going on. They’ve just been okay with this arrangement for years.
The new pastor hasa decision to make. Will he deal with this issue or will he let things go as they have for years?
If he deals with the sin, unless these two adulterers repent immediately, there will be a fallout.
Fast forward a bit. The pastor chose to do the right thing and confront the two adulterers, Chaos now ensued and choir members are now calling for the pastor’s resignation. Business meetings are now screaming matches. A few people are patting him on the back and telling him he did the right thing, but most people are quietly hoping that he will leave. The pastor had disrupted things and most don’t like that. For most people in the congregation, that pastor is the villain.
Adulterers were leading the church’s worship. The church was letting it happen. But the pastor became the villain for dealing with the problem.
It doesn’t make sense, but things like this happen every day.
It’s Happening In Minnesota Right Now
This is happening right now with regard to immigration laws. Our federal government passed immigration laws that some cities refuse to enforce. These are called Sanctuary Cities.
Now, Arizona v United States of America clarified a lot of these issues. Go look it up. When Arizona was attempting to enforce its own immigration laws, the Obama administration sued and won at the Supreme Court. The Federal Government is in charge of immigration. This means that local law enforcement doesn’t have to actively cooperate with the federal government, but they certainly do not have the right to impede the work of the federal government. And the actions in these sanctuary cities has often been to impede the work of the federal government.
For years this has been overlooked. These cities were allowed to disregard federal laws on immigration and nobody did or said much about it. And fraud from these immigrants seems to have run rampant in a rather incredible way, which has been plastered all over the news for the last few weeks.
The new leadership thinks that it’s time for this to be over. And so, ICE was sent into Sanctuary Cities. Suddenly, the ecosystem, which included illegal immigrants who had broken other laws as well, was interrupted.
Who is the villain?
Who does everyone cast as the villain?
Now go back to the illustration, what if the pastor responded sinfully to the attacks of angry congregants?
Is he without sin? Obviously not.
Does this mean he is the cause of all the troubles? Again, obviously not.
I think you can see where I’m going with this?
A woman and a man have been shot in Minnesota amid all the chaos. Investigations are ongoing. And we will know more about these soon, but the chaos and death were not ultimately caused by ICE coming to town. It happened because the President and ICE were cast as villains as they attempted to enforce the law. Then chaos ensued. And horrible things happened in the chaos.
We may soon find out that an ICE agent or a group of them killed an unarmed man. I am open to that evidence. We should be patient and wait for the evidence to come out. And if wrongdoing occurred, it too should be dealt with according to the law.
But I lay the blame at the feet of the people that defied the law to begin with. I lay the blame at governors and mayors that enforced lawlessness with regard to immigration.I lay the blame upon a city council that voted for this to happen. I lay the blame at the feet of the people that neglected their duties for these many years.
This is an ugly lesson in the chaos that can happen when a person or group of people suddenly decides to enforce laws that are already on the books. It’s a lesson in the chaos that can ensue when people decide that they will finally deal with what has been overlooked.
Personal Courage
I want to end by thinking about this personally. Personal lessons abound here if we will just take the time to look around.
Do you have the courage to do the right thing in the face of the mob?
This post was fundamentally about how chaos often ensues when we do the right thing. Do you have the courage to do the right thing even if it were to cause panic and chaos to ensue.
I have to tell you that, from my observations, not a lot of people do. It’s rare to find the person that will fix a problem if it would stir up trouble.
How many husbands are out there not dealing with problems in the home because it would cause chaos to ensue from their wife?
How many parents are out there today who understand that their child is in sin, but will not talk to them because the whole family expects them to be accepting or understanding?
How many pastors know of sin in their churches but won’t deal with it because chaos would ensue if they did?
Are we willing to do the right thing even if we know that it will cause turmoil?
Leave a Reply