Love your enemies.
Do good to those who hurt you.
Pray for those who mistreat you.
These are the words of Christ. Not the words of Christianity or the words of religion. Christ. When Jesus said to love your enemies, who were the enemies that he was referring to? When he said to pray for those who mistreat you, who was he referring to?
In the days following the murder of Osama Bin Laden, I believe it is necessary to stop and reflect on these words. What did the heart of God cry out at the moment of his death? Did he rejoice over the end of a tyrant or did his heart break over the death of his child?
Did the unrighteous actions that Bin Laden committed cause the father to love him any less? If that is the case, than every unrighteous act I commit causes the father to love me less as well. Thank God for his unfailing grace that chases us down when we don’t deserve it.
The Bible is clear that there is nothing we can do that will make God love us any more than he does right this second. The marvelous flip side of this is that there is nothing we can do that is so terrible that God will love us less than he does right this second. This grace doesn’t change as our actions get worse.
In the book of Romans there is a line that says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.” In the wake of this instance let us rejoice with those who are rejoicing. Not over the death of the individual, but in the lessening of the oppression he created. I believe that the heart of God is rejoicing right along with us and that, in this fact, the Heavens are celebrating. However, in our rejoicing let us not forget to mourn with those who mourn. When the dust settles there will still be children without a father, wives without a husband and a community that is missing a leader. How we feel or whether we agree with them does not change the fact that we are called to mourn with them in their loss.
Now is the time for us to put our faith into action. This, I believe, is the central message of Jesus. To love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We have neighbors who are mourning the death of a loved one. This is a time for us to put aside out political and personal difference. To pray for them and join them in their mourning.
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This message is absolutely from the Heart of God!!! Thank you for expressing it so well. Abundant blessings to you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking time to read this! Where would we be without the unearned mercy of God? It's easy to get caught up in our own lives and forget about the rest of the world. God bless you.
ReplyDeletewow, thats an amazing twist on everything thats going on, basically the opposite of what everyones saying, but then again, thats the message of christ.
ReplyDeleteIts amazing how 2,000 years later, acting out the message of Christ is still a struggle. I had to check my own heart. I was rejoicing in the death right along with everyone else but when I stopped to consider it I realized I was rejoicing in the revenge. I was joyful that we had vengeance. Where is Christ in that?
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing point of view, Matt. This was very refreshing to read from all that's out there right now. And speaking of checking your own heart, I completely understand what you mean after reading it. Thanks for putting this out to read.
ReplyDeleteExplain to me how you can believe that, when God would tell the jews (in multiple cases) to destroy their enemies. When is it permissable to allow us to see that justice has been done. I agree that nothing done could make God love us less, however i believe that God is happy that Osama has been taken care of; Not just for the retribution of the United States, but also because this man was a huge threat to the Jewish people as well.
ReplyDeleteI hope that I was clear in that, I believe God is rejoicing in the end of the oppression and injustice that Osama Bin Laden created and caused. Like the death of the Egyptians in the dead sea, a death God orchestrated, God celebrated along with the Isrealites in their freedom from the oppression. However, I believe that as God looked down on the waters and saw the death of all of His children it broke his heart. I believe God rejoiced with the Israelites and mourned with the Egyptians.
ReplyDelete1 Peter says that God does not desire ANY to perish but that all would come to repentance. Did God want Bin Laden to repent? I believe absolutely. Did God desire for him to perish? I have a hard time believing that in light of the scriptures.
I also believe that it is never our duty to see that justice is done. I believe this is the message of Romans 12 when God says “Vengeance is mine. I will repay.” (I am referring to justice as a retributive action. Justice as a restorative and distributive action are the duty of every human being.) It is God’s to get justice. Our command is to simply love and overcome evil with good.
ReplyDeleteLet us rejoice with those who are rejoicing, but let us not forget about those who are mourning.
I hope this helps to clear up my thoughts on the matter. Thanks for the great question and thoughts.
Feel free to continue the discussion. I love to hear other points of view.
Be blessed - Matt