“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord,holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” – Rev. 6:9-10
Last week I asked specifically of the Lord to place upon my heart an overwhelming burden for the people of Romania, if this was in fact were He is calling me. The Lord faithfully answered the desire of my heart, but not at all in the way I had imagined. My heart, my soul, and my whole being has now been overwhelmed and nearly overcome with the berevement of the unjustifiable beheadings of my 21 Egyptian brothers in Christ. My soul crys out in anguish (Tzedakah) for them, their families, and my thoughts reach out in empathetic feeling to the countless future victims that will be murdered at the hands of ISIS. In equal magnitude as my anguish, a rolling anger swells within me; every ounce of me shouts in protest to such evil. I want to stand and fight. To stand up for those oppressed and crushed by this violence, and I want to fight for those who cannot themselves! My hatred toward this injustice and those responsible builds within me… How am I to respond?
As people of The Cross, what is our response? For most of us, we sit back comfortably in our lap of luxury. From these box seats we view these autrousities, post to our social media outlets, and in a rather rapid fluidity (as if we have done this before) get back to our daily lives (because our lives are our own, right?). In our actions, I question if we are indeed people of the cross. Christ said, “pick up your cross and follow me (not whenever, daily).” Do we know how to live this out or do we just like the ideal of it and settle? If this offends you and calls you out, good. Be unsettled and act! My struggles and personal convictions tend to be an amplifier, not only spoken to me, but for those around me. We, as Christians, need to step out of our comfort zones and pursue the cross! Why has this fallen to the way side. We must pursue it with our everything and all the pain, suffering, and discontentment that may come with it.
God continually burdens me with the task of defending the weak, the oppressed, the afflicted, and the innocent. But why is that my call? My response is to cast these evil misguided men from this earth as they have denied Christ, along with his grace. They stand condemned by both God and Men because of their actions. Why should they be left un-checked? Who will stand against them? I remain challenged with Christ’s example, but I am at a loss when I am called to defend… Isaiah 1:17. How do I do such a thing without violent retaliation, how do I walk as Jesus walked in this situation?
Perplexed and crushed, but not abandoned…
Maybe I am being to earthly focused, after all, we were not created for this world. We all are to be reconciled back to the Father! And those 21 men of faith are now with Christ, in oneness. Spiritually, we fight against the forces of the evil one, who at this moment is using ISIS. Every person that we lead to freedom that is in Christ is a straight sucker punch to the devils face, but it still does nothing to defend the victims who are brutslly tortured and then have their lives taken from them. Damn the tension.
My boy Yount said it well: ” I don’t think injustices are ever something you can achieve reconciliation with or have peace about. It is part of the territory of lving in the tension of what was suppose to be versus what is, as you cling to the promise of what will be.” At the very least this should wake us up. The harder evil trys to eradict people of faith, all the more harder we need to be living out the gospel and preaching to all who God brings in our path (yes, we are all called to preach and testify). A day should not go by where we do not pick up our cross. As people of the cross, step up and walk out your faith. If that means offending some, being outcast, condemned, or persecuted then so be it. We must join our brothers in being living testaments to the name of the Lord! The world does not know us…
Yet, I am not about doing the very least #hasidliving God breed me to be a warrior; I’m a fighter and a defender of all who are weak. In these moments of insurmountable evil, I still am reminded of the devil’s future, its immeninent end. But I still cannot stand idlely by to allow the innocent to perish at the hands of evil men. Let us wrestle with this tensions together and pray to the Lord above on how we are to respond as Christians to this form of evil.
Amidst the stronghold of evil, the fading of light, and the darkness that has engulfed all. Remember one thing… He is still here… The Light is still lite… Hope exists!
