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Protect and defend
To defend is the natural tendency to guard and fortify. Naturally, we take steps to defend ourselves against the things we think will threaten, attack, and weaken us.
This is quite different from being “defensive,” which is often associated with suspicious and distrustful behavior. To me, the battle cry of defensiveness is the costly attack-defend/attack-defend paradigm that presupposes there must be vengeance, victims and losers, fear and distrust in an unsafe, insecure, and volatile world.
I’ve found that pondering the practical human need to defend, in contrast with a divinely inspired state of “defenselessness,” is empowering, liberating, and healing. It allows the strength of the Christ-truth to replace underlying fear, anger, and weakness with our holiest of purposes—to be God’s blessed peacemakers.
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