May the Gospel Shine Through

My heart is breaking for our nation tonight. As I think about what is happening, the one thing that keeps coming to my mind is that this is where the gospel should shine its brightest. People are searching for answers, and short of Jesus Christ and God's love we are bound to fall short of coming close to any answer. 

 

A common theme seems to be that love is the answer. But love as the world knows it will still fail. It is an emotion that has to compete with other emotions such as fear, disgust, anger, etc. But the gospel is about a love that surpasses everything. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear. (1 John 4:18). It speaks of loving your neighbor as yourself. And neighbor means everyone, including your enemies. So that means loving those who persecute you, who hate you, who you fear, or even disgust you. And this is hard. But we have an example of that love in the Bible. Of someone who could be put to death and still call out for their forgiveness. 

 

Our nation seems to look like one of people who have lost sight of the gospel. In this time of divisiveness, we need to hear the words of Ephesians that say, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Those of you in the black community, I am sorry. I am sorry for the racism and discrimination that still exists. For those of you in law enforcement who do not feel appreciated or even feel despised, I am sorry. I pray that God's love will shine through which is the only way to bring unity and peace to a world that is broken. And that doesn't happen overnight. I will be the first to admit that I have fear, anger, disgust, hate, etc in me that I constantly have to battle against. But by God's grace, I am becoming more like Love everyday.