I Confess... Ultimately, I Believe It’s An Issue of Spiritual Health

Once again, this nation is forced to deal with a very real evil in its midst.  Once again, horrific violence seems to be playing out on an almost constant loop as media and social media outlets are inundated with images and pontifications and opinions about the unbridled hatred unleashed upon 2 communities within 24 hours.  Once again, we are left with a choice as to how we proceed as Americans, and as humans being.  And yes, once again, people who claim Christ as their savior are left with the onerous task of trying to live by the example of that same savior in the face of circumstances and oppositions that feel overwhelming bleak.

Debates are raging as to whether the perpetrators are racist, or mentally ill.  People are divided over whether more gun control laws are needed, or more enforcement of those laws are needed. And it isn’t just strangers fueling the growing fires we’re watching.  Lifelong friends and acquaintances are in virtual shouting matches via FB, Twitter, Snapchat and all the other outlets that they share.  Language that is foul and angry… cusses and curses and epithets… memes and pictures that seek to express or incite even more raw emotion… This has become our steady diet.  We are gorging ourselves on it.  We aren’t forced to swallow it.  But we often do it simply because it’s there.  And it’s killing us all.

  

These men are evil. They are terrorists.  And they are/ were both extremely ill. They’re both mentally and spiritually diseased.  I don’t think you can separate those states of being from one another.  I think that it’s fairly evident that if a person hates someone, ANYONE, because of their skin color, there is an illness that is present. A sickness. To find enough hatred inside a soul that they decide to commit physical or emotional violence against someone, ANYONE, because of the color of their skin, their nationality, their financial status, or a chosen lifestyle is the purest example of mental and spiritual illness I think we can find. 

  

Honestly, is it sane to hate someone because of the color of their skin?  Do rational and well-balanced individuals simply choose to pull out a gun and open fire on a crowd of people because they happen to look different or act differently?  Make no mistake… if someone is capable of committing this kind of carnage; they are broken mentally. Worse, if they feel no remorse for the acts they have committed, they are bankrupt spiritually.  But thank God, there is a cure available to us. 

  

To come back to my earlier statement that Christ’s followers are given the task of living by the example of our Savior…  Do you think that Jesus would renounce violence only if it was directed against the Jewish people?  Did He instruct us to pray only for our family, friends and people like us?  Did he condemn the Romans who committed the most heinous acts of violence imaginable against Him while only forgiving the crowds that cried “Crucify him!” because he could understand them better? 

Here is a hard truth to accept:

To be more willing to forgive a person or group’s violence because of the color of skin, or financial status, nationality, or lifestyle choice is simply a softer version of any “ism”.  And it is every bit as wrong as committing those acts in the first place. Because in the end, you are showing preference to a like-ness rather than an obedience to a love of, and trust in, our Christ.

  

And here is another hard truth:

  

If our words and deeds don’t reflect the light of Christ, even in the opposition of evil, then we are complicit in widening the gulf between people that Jesus died to reconcile to himself and to one another. 

  

We don’t have to agree on everything.  We don’t have to think, sound, act, dress, or look alike to be genuinely kind to one another. And we don’t have to let those differences become another excuse for division.  We have the ability, both as individuals and collectively, to choose something else.  Mercy is and always will be God’s response to a people who have it within their nature to be rebellious and petty and selfish and divisive.  The light of Christ reflected through our words and deeds should remind others of that. And it is where we begin to offer the world an alternative to the seemingly unending diet of darkness that it is consuming regularly.  Each time we respond to hatred with kindness, we are contributing to the mental and spiritual health of those whom God sees fit to place in our circles of care. And yes, in a very real way we are combating evil.

  

Is it always easy?  No.  But it is always possible.

  

When Paul writes in Romans 8: 38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” it is more than just a proclamation that we can’t be taken from God.  It is also a reminder that the love of God in us can’t be overcome by those things. We can’t be “talked into” abandoning our faith and resorting to hateful or petty actions.  Others’ opinions won’t sway us.  Others’ words can’t “cause” us to choose this action or that attitude if they are contrary to God’s perfect will.  Those become choices we make.  And choices we have to answer for ultimately. The inseparable and invincible love of the Creator in us reminds us that we have His ability to choose better.  That love in us reminds us that even though evil is powerful, God is all powerful.

  

Opposing evil should be a pursuit that all believers have in common.  However, doing so by resorting to nastiness, violence and/ or name calling will perpetuate the problem, not solve it.  And if you disagree with me, that’s okay.  If you call me names, I’ll recover.  If you unfriend me on social media, I’ll miss that point of connection.  But I will continue to offer nothing but care, respect, and hope to any and all that God sees fit to put in my circle of care.  It is, in the light of Christ’s example, the only sane response to a world that seems to have gone, well, insane.  Promote some mental and spiritual health today.  Try to remember to…

  

Love in Christ always,

Chris