If I were to speak with eloquence in earth’s many languages, and in the heavenly tongues of angels, yet I didn’t express myself with love, my words would be reduced to the hollow sound of nothing more than a clanging cymbal… Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.
1 Corinthians 13: 1, 5-7
Today I am hurting.
I have spent a lot of time this morning crying over all the brokenness that is happening. I am appalled by the hatred that has boiled over out of everyone. Even those of my friends and family.
The act of killing George Floyd was not of the Lord.
The act of looting and arsonry as a response was not of the Lord.
The act of being careless with words not only by president Trump, but even by my family and friends is not of the Lord.
All of it is a mess, and the anger that people are experiencing has lead them to blindness and deafness. Logic has gone out the window.
Instead, people are taking sides, pointing fingers and retaliating violence with violence.
Everyone is attacking each other, and no one is humbling themselves to understand each other. We need to be seeking to understand the other. No matter if your words are truth we have to look after our brothers and what hurts them (1 Corinthians 8:12-13).
That means open your heart, hands, and mind.
That means if you watch CNN also watch FOX.
That means if you watch FOX also watch CNN.
That means actually do research before posting something from media. Because they’re only going to show you the drama and manipulate your emotions to fuel fear and anger.
That means whatever your initial thoughts are, at least consider other thoughts. Because if you are fired up, you’re probably not thinking correctly, and the devil is feeding you all kinds of thoughts and emotions.
If we’re going to stand against the things that lead to death, let’s stand against them all. But you can’t fight death with death. You fight death with life. You fight death with love. You HAVE to walk in the opposite spirit. As followers of Christ, we can’t point fingers and be upset with looting and thieving and say nothing about the death of George Floyd that was birthed out of racism, hatred, anger. We can’t point fingers and be angry about the death and injustice of George Floyd and pretend like every other crime and act of aggression is okay. Don’t you see, it’s the same spirit of death, of anger, of hatred that has fueled both.
We have not even tried to look at this situation through our father’s eyes. No, we have decided we know best.
“Bang the gavel! I will declare condemnation and be the judge of it all!”
That is the song we Have chosen to sing.
Are you kidding me?
Step back for a moment and put your eyes on the Lord, and allow him to give you perspective.
Everything is broken.
But we can not fix brokenness with brokenness.
At the root of all of this is fear.
Fear of people different than us.
Fear of losing our lives.
Fear of losing our freedoms.
Fear of speaking up.
People are hurting, people are afraid, and people are angry. All for good reasons.
But the Lord did not give us a Spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7), and anger is okay, but we can not let our actions and responses be controlled by it (Ephesians 4:26-27).
If you need to express yourself, let’s talk.
If you don’t understand what I’m saying, let’s talk. I can take it. I can take the blow. I can stand in the middle.
Because on the other side of me is another human. Another person created in the image of God. That person is not your enemy.
Black people are not your enemy.
Looters and criminals are not your enemy.
Cops are not your enemy.
President Trump is not your enemy.
Satan is getting just what he wants with all of our careless words and actions. Don’t let him win this.
Stop the fire being fueled by racism.
Stop the fire being fueled by hatred.
Stop the fire being fueled by misunderstanding and ignorance.
Stop the fire being fueled by apathy.
We were all born to be loved.
If we are in fact Christ followers overflow and bleed with love.
