Sunday, July 21, 1861 saw the first major battle of the American Civil War about 25 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. at Manassas Junction, VA, also known as the battle of Bull Run. The untried Union Army was led by Brigadier General Irvin McDowell and he opposed the Confederate Army under the command of General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. Deadly fire raked the field of battle as .50 caliber black powder rifles used at close range wreaked carnage on the lines of finely dressed soldiers. Militarily, the battle is famous as the place where southern General Thomas Jackson earned his nom de Guerre, “Stonewall Jackson.” The battle of Bull Run was sobering and indicated that the war to end the evil of slavery would be long and bloody.
When we think of the Civil War, we think of “blue” versus “gray.” But in this first battle at Bull Run, there was great confusion because the color of the uniforms used by each army had not yet been standardized. Some of the Confederate soldiers were actually wearing a shade of blue and some Union soldiers were actually wearing gray. As the battle intensified and the haze of black powder smoke descended over the landscape and hung over the field of combat, it became difficult to distinguish comrades from the enemy. Clear and necessary distinctions between friend and foe became lost and was one factor contributing to the Union defeat.
We too are in a battle, a spiritual fight. In the smoke and chaos of a culture at war with truth and virtue, there are times when the clear and necessary distinctions between Christians and the world are lost. From a distance, many Christians look like the world. 1 John 2:15 warns us, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Living for the Lord means we maintain clear distinctions between ourselves and those who oppose God. The danger of worldliness is that we not only lead ourselves astray, but contribute to the defeat of others as well.