What a week it has been. A racist sniper kills five Dallas police officers and dozens are killed in a Bastille Day terror attack in France. I guess it’s not just a bad week, though, because we seem to hear about this stuff all of the time now.
And in the aftermath of these things we’ll hear all sorts of discussions about things like race relations, religious tolerance, gun control and the war on terror. I’m sure we’ll even hear some more about building walls. Some of those discussions are even worth having.
But what we really need to understand is that we’re in a spiritual war. There’s a fight that goes on all the time — 24 hours a day, seven days a week — for the souls of mankind. On one side of this war is a force that erases hope and in its place casts fear and doubt and hate and violence. On the other side is the one true God who sends His Perfect Love that casts out all fear and replaces doubt and hate with love.
Think about these acts of violence and hate for a moment. What causes a person to do these horrible things? What goes through someone’s mind to make them think that these are the right choices? Whatever does go through their minds erases their hope. People kill themselves and others when they give up and when they think there are no other possible alternatives.
So what gives a person hope? There’s only one thing: the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Without the gospel, it’s every man for himself.
Without the gospel, it’s eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.
Without the gospel, there is no call, no reason to think of others.
Without the gospel, this life is all that we have and there is nothing else better.
Without the gospel, there is no need to forgive.
Without the gospel, we don’t value human life and therefore give ourselves reasons to elevate one race over others.
But the gospel changes everything.
Through the gospel, we see the order and discipline that comes naturally from the Creator.
Through the gospel, we see that we are all made in God’s image and though we are different, we are equal.
Through the gospel, we see that we are all sinners and we learn the meaning of forgiveness.
Through the gospel, we realize the Fount of our blessings and we learn thanksgiving.
Through the gospel, we learn to think of others more highly than ourselves.
Through the gospel, we understand that this world is not our home and therefore we gain an eternal perspective.
In a war, there are only a couple of viable options for success. First, you can decimate your enemy. This means killing and destroying your enemy so that they can never rise to defeat you. The second option is to bring your enemy over to your side. We need to realize this about our current situation as well. We either need to resolve to destroy our enemies because, ultimately, it’s essentially them or us. Or their hearts need to change. You may say that’s impossible, but I would say that if you are a Christian the same thing has happened to you that you are saying is impossible to happen to someone else. Consider this:
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 ESV)
We were God’s enemies. We were totally against Him, yet He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for us. Because He is a just God, our sins deserved death, yet He sent His Son to die in our place. And our Savior, Jesus, lovingly and willingly laid down His life for us.
God made provision for us while we were still His enemies. Let us pray that our enemies would hear of this provision and that would call them to Himself and save them. Lord, let this be the way the battle is won!
Amen and amen.
Husband Father Son 