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God Bless
So many things are going through our minds. We can’t keep our eyes off the TV. Our emotions ebb and flow with each new development. We are at war. Our young people are on the other side of the world, making a stand for our way of life…a life free of terror and intimidation… and a life for those who have never experienced what we take so much for granted. It is a stand against evil and tyranny. And yet, how are we to respond as Christians?, saved through grace and commanded to love our enemies. Our goal is to bring the peace of Christ to the world. And yet our freedom has been bought with a price. The death of Christ on the cross to set us free…the death of men and women of the past to give us earthly freedoms. How do we react?
I remember the many sociology classes I have taught through the years.
Sooner or later, the subject of absolutes would come up.
A discussion would ensue about whether there is absolute truth.
I believe there is absolute truth, and I have never been slow to give my
opinion. Let me share with you the
story I always shared with my students.
I would say, “Suppose someone came into this room right this minute with a
gun, and I believe this person had the intention of killing everyone of you.
Suppose I also had a gun and was faced with the decision of either
shooting this perpetrator or allowing him to shoot you.
Without a doubt, I would shoot him. If
necessary, I would probably kill him. Now
it would be wrong for me to kill him. But
it would be more wrong to allow him
to kill you. Killing is always
wrong, but sometimes we must choose between two wrongs.”
You see, it is much easier when our choices are between right and wrong, even
though we often make wrong choices. Sometimes
I think we have to choose between two wrongs, and the best we can do is to
choose the lesser of the wrongs. It’s
a hard thing to do, but God’s forgiveness is always there in those difficult
situations, and His understanding is there when we face those situations with no
clear-cut answers. We often think of
doing wrong in terms of action, but not acting can also be wrong.
I have been wrong plenty of times for not standing up for what I believe
in.
I believe war is wrong. I believe it
will always be wrong. I think our
President and our leaders think it is wrong.
But I think not to act is more wrong.
I think allowing women and children to be tortured is more wrong.
I believe allowing chemical and biological weapons in the hands of
terrorist is more wrong. I believe
not acting so as to prevent other nine-elevens is more wrong.
I believe we have tried everything in our power to stop evil without going to
war. But evil must be confronted and
stopped. Lives will be lost in the
process, but more lives will be saved if we stop the evil now instead of later.
So that’s where I am. I will pray
for our leaders and soldiers each day. I
will pray for the enemy each day. I
will pray for a swift end to the conflict and for a new quality of life for this
world. I am proud to be an American
and thank God for those who acted and gave their lives so I could have the
freedom to write this devotional. I
thank God for those who this very minute are fighting to preserve this wonderful
way of life I enjoy.
Most of all, I thank
God for Jesus Christ, who is the absolute truth, who forgives me when I’m
wrong, and who teaches to stand up for right and to resist evil.
May each of us be His vessels of truth to a starving world, and may God
continue to bless the
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