Yesterday morning, I browsed over to CNN.com and was… I really don’t have words to describe it. I read a story about a father of five children who used a knife on all of them, killing two and seriously wounding the other three, then slitting his own throat. I read a story about a man shooting his ex-wife with an AK-47 because he didn’t want to pay back child support.
I read about a 7 month old, a 7 month old being sexually assaulted.
The world is broken. This is not how God intended it. The extreme capacity that people have to cruel, malicious, and violent toward each other is staggering. And it seems to be for personal pleasure, personal gain, personal desires.
On days like yesterday, I cannot believe how a holy God could look down on this miserable mess that we’ve made with anything approximating love. On a people that are so screwed up that we’ll shoot our ex-wives so that we don’t have to pay them child support, or we’ll kill someone who is from a different tribe, or we’ll drown our children and blame someone else for it.
I despair. I doubt. I can’t see hope.
But here’s where I am. I believe God’s business is reconciliation and restoration. I believe that Jesus walked this earth to help us return to God. To break out pieces of the Kingdom of God. That’s why the angels rejoice so hard when someone is saved. Not just because of the soul, but because it’s another little piece of the Kingdom that has entered this world. Slowly, bit by bit, the Kingdom is becoming real; people are seeing the reality that things are broken and we cannot fix them by ourselves. It takes the power of God and the power of God’s people to achieve this.
Jesus didn’t save us to sit on our… pews and talk or listen about God. Jesus lived, died, and rose so that we could be reconciled to God and help the world be reconciled to God. Get out there and do it. And encourage me to get out there and do it.
Love God. Love People. Serve God. Serve People.
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4 comments:
Tonight was one tiny step towards some of these lofty goals, I think. Glad to have been there with you guys.
I was thinking the exact same thing several times tonight.
I have a seven month old grandson. I can't stand that image!!
I am looking for ways to do what you all are doing. My little home town is somewhat protected from some things, like street folks, that just means I have to look a little harder.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Just for info, what we're talking about is a ministry called Magdelene Ministries. They take in women who were prostitutes and addicted to drugs. These women are taken into detox and given a place to stay.
The ministry has a farm called Thistle Farms. On the farm the women grow herbs and other products to make beauty stuff. Tonight we met three women who are going through the program and bought some stuff. Well, my wife did. I was just along for the ride.
Anyway, it just struck me that this is reconciliation in action. This is the Kingdom starting the break into our world.
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