What man meant for evil God meant for good. As we look back on our week here in the United States and see what happened in Charleston, SC we saw evil personified. But what has come out of that should fill us with hope. Followers of Jesus did not respond with hate, but with love for one another and even the perpetrator of the horrendous crime of murdering unsuspecting victims.
There has been, is and will be grieving for the loss that this whole nation feels and especially the body of Christ. The write of Psalm 116:15 reminds the follower of Jesus that “Precious in the sight of the LORD in the death of His saints.” However, it is natural to grieve over one who was close to us; even Jesus did it in John 11:35 when He wept at the death of his dear friend Lazarus.
Often times when evil rears its ugly head those who are Jesus followers retreat into a shell and allow the evil to run amok. But this does not have to be; what we must do is come together and bring strength to that link which seems to be weak after a confrontation with evil. We retaliate but not with weapons made by men but weapons made by God. Vengeance is never ours to bring down upon our “enemies” but vengeance upon evil is only and always Gods.
Paul that apostle tells the church at Rome in his letter to them: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19, ESV).
We began to get a glimpse of this in Charleston when the family members of the slain and members of the church body forgave the gunman and even invited him back to the same Bible study of which he took the lives of the slain. Paul goes on in verses 20-21; “To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if his thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Don not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
This young man was and is definitely hungry for God and thirsty for God, but he went about finding that very wrong. But God used this horrendous incident to show who He is and what He is truly like. God so loved the world even though it was not looking for Him and all evidence points to us hating God with a passion; that is when God the Father sent God the Son to die on our behalf so that we might receive eternal life if we receive it by faith.
Though we saw evil first hand my we see even more clearly the hand of our loving Savior as He overcomes hate with love and evil with good. As we move forward let us as followers of Jesus, whether black or white, or Latino or Asian may we set aside our color differences and see with great clarity what makes us of one great race – Jesus Christ and our reception of Him as our Savior and Lord. Let the church rise up and follow our Head into a great time of witnessing His love for a lost world. Lost people matter to God and He wants them found.
Grieve yes, but only temporarily, but love always! Follow the example of Jesus and love when it does not make sense. This shows God’s love for people of the world in which He came to save.