Christian in America

I must admit that my feelings and emotions have been hard to decipher the last 24 hours.  Everyone has been posting so many different feelings and opinions on how they feel people should react.  To be very honest with you, I cried real tears when I got the news that the man that caused so many deaths was himself now dead.  Yes I cried…

 

My thoughts first went to all those many lives that were lost not just on 9/11 but also of the ones that we as a nation continued to lose for our forced answer on the unspeakable terrorist act.  I then found my mind going to the thoughts of what his last moments must have been like for him.  Did he know that all he had to do was ask and even he would have found forgiveness in the arms of God?  Yes I do understand what this man has done.  Keep in mind he did not just cause the death of our American people BUT his own people that followed him whole heartedly.  Yes he was a bad man.  That I do not argue with. I then began to watch the human reaction play across the screen of the television and Facebook statuses.  I began to see a real hatred come out of people that I don’t normally see.  This has gone on now for an entire day.  The news and media tells us the details of how it all happened.  I have heard it actually said by MY friends, “He did not suffer enough!”  WOW really?  Is this what we as Christians have come to? 

My heart STILL bleeds for the family members of those that were lost 9 ½ years ago.  By no means does the loss of his life make the big gapping sore all of a sudden healed.  Maybe it brings a little less pain and the oozing may subside for a moment.  But then reality will hit again that there are still children that will never grow up, fathers never walking their daughters down the aisle,  mothers never again reading a bedtime story to sleepy eyes, and love that will never be allowed to grow and blossom.

So bottom line is... how does a Christian react to news of such great magnitude?  Don't we have feelings and emotions just like everyone else does?  Yes we do!  Matter of fact, God gave us those feelings and emotions.  That is how we can love Him so richly and deeply.  That is how we can have so much love for one another.  The emotions themselves are not bad and wrong but what makes them wrong or right is HOW we act upon those emotions.  We are going to have enemies.  God tells us this.  BUT He also tells us how to be when we have them. 

“But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you.  Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.  If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also.” ~ Luke 6:27-29 (NLT)  

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.  But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!  In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.” ~ Matthew 5:43-45 (NLT)

So my challenge this week... use this current situation playing out before you to look at your life.  How do you treat those that speak harmful things about you?  How do you react when someone speaks ill against you?  Do you treat your enemies well or do you speak harshly yourself about them?  It is completely up to you how you are going to react.  But I plead with you to remember how God would want you to react.