On the face of it, evidence
shows that a police officer in Minneapolis applied excessive physical force
during a police contact with an African American citizen of the United States
of America, resulting in his death. The
officer has been fired and charged with murder.
Following this
incident, protest demonstrations have erupted across the country, which have
turned violent. Property has been
destroyed, looting has occurred, and there have been shootings. Some of those shot have been killed, including children. Rocks, Molotov
cocktails, liquids, and other missiles have been thrown at the police. Some police officers have been beaten, and
others have been shot at. A few have died
as a result of the injuries they have received.
Everyone is blaming
everyone else. People are looking to
their political leaders for solutions. One
side wants to “defund” the police. The
other side wants government action to suppress the violence. Depending on your point of view, in November you will have the opportunity to vote for candidates that you think will take the correct course of
action, and you should.
However, I would
like to suggest that we also take a long look at ourselves and the direction
our society has been taking for the last 55 years. Have we turned away from God and His
ways? Have we rushed headlong into
satisfying the wants and desires of our own sinful natures? The Holy Bible sheds light on that:
What causes fights and quarrels
among you?
Don’t they come from your desires
that battle within you?
You desire but do not have, so you
kill.
You covet but you cannot get what
you want, so you quarrel and fight.
You do not have because you do not
ask God.
When you ask, you do not receive,
because you ask with wrong motives,
that you may spend what you get on
your pleasures. (James 4:1-3 NIV) *
What must we then do? Senator Ted Cruz often quoted this Bible
verse, during his 2016 run for the presidency:
if my people, who are called by my
name,
will humble themselves and pray and
seek my face
and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven,
and I will forgive their sin and
will heal their land. (2Chronicles 7:14 NIV) *
When we pray,
Jesus Christ intercedes with God the Father and pleads our case with Him:
Therefore, since we have a great
high priest who has ascended into heaven,
Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold firmly to the faith we
profess.
For we do not have a high priest who
is unable to empathize with our weaknesses,
but we have one who has been tempted
in every way,
just as we are—yet he did not sin.
Let us then approach God’s throne of
grace with confidence,
so that we may receive mercy and
find grace to help us in our time of need.
(Hebrews 4:14-16 NIV) *
It is high time that we repent, as
individuals and as a people, and turn back to God:
If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins
and purify us from
all unrighteousness.
If we claim we
have not sinned,
we make him out to
be a liar and his word is not in us. (1John 1:9 NIV)
Then we will be able to rejoice with
the Psalmist:
I lift up my eyes
to the mountains—
where does my help
come from?
My help comes from
the Lord,
the Maker of
heaven and earth.
He will not let
your foot slip—
he who watches
over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who
watches over Israel
will neither
slumber nor sleep.
The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not
harm you by day,
nor the moon by
night.
The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over
your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and
forevermore. (Psalm 121:1-8 NIV) *
Please remember what we learned as children. Two wrongs do not make a right.
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