Abraham Lincoln famously said, “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side.”
Right after the American Civil War, the most brutal and divisive war in American history, the winning side was clearly tempted to triumphalism. But Lincoln felt the shame of the horrible conflict, the sin on all sides, and the need for humble repentance if there was ever to be reconciliation and unity again.
Lincoln had it right. The biggest problem with religion is that people, groups, institutions, nations, and all of our human sides sometimes try to bring God onto our side. When people and groups are sure they are right, they want to confidently say that God agrees with them. Divine claims of righteousness for very human behavior—and often very brutal behavior—have always undermined the integrity and credibility of religion. The much harder task, and the more important one, is to ask how to be on God’s side, as Lincoln was suggesting. And that often means changing our minds and hearts about many things, and learning a whole different perspective from the one we already agree with.
Agreeing with God is much more important than getting God to agree with us. But that often means turning many of our own opinions upside down. As the apostle Paul said in the book of 1 Corinthians, we humans only “see through a glass, darkly” (1 Cor. 13:12 KJV), meaning that we are bound by our limitations and required to exercise the humility that Lincoln was calling for. Knowing exactly what God’s side is on every issue and in every moment is very difficult for very human beings. Trying to understand God’s side means being more reflective and critical of ourselves and of “our side,” which we must endeavor to transcend if our “greatest concern is to be on God’s side.”
Being on God’s side…” means seeing God’s purposes ahead of our own or our group’s self-interest. It means loving our neighbors, even when they are in a group different from ours, and even when they are our enemies.
Excerpts from ‘On God’s Side’ Ch 1 by Jim Wallis