Love God and Love Each Other
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first
commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
– Matthew 22:37-39
We are all still reeling from the latest school
shooting. Another 17 students and teachers dead. Hundreds, if not thousands, of
students traumatized. Let the finger pointing begin.
Why? We ask ourselves that again and again. This is
the 18th school shooting this year, and we aren’t even done with
February yet. What has happened to our nation that such horrific violence has
entered our schools?
Everyone has an answer. We need tougher gun laws. We
need to enforce the gun laws we already have. The FBI didn’t do its job. The
mental health system is broken. Agencies need to be more vigilant in reporting
unstable behavior. It’s those violent video games kids have these days.
Violence is everywhere on television and in movies. Kids don’t understand that
death is final. Parents aren’t taking responsibility for discipling their kids.
They don’t control their children so children never learn about responsibility
and consequences.
The list could go on and on. The truth is every one of
those excuses is probably partially true and the whole makes for a broken
culture.
How do we fix it? Jesus. Oh, I know. There are those
who don’t want to hear that. How could Jesus fix this? Jesus can fix anything
and anyone.
And before those conservative Christians start the
battle cry, let me quickly add that the beginning should come with the hypocrites
keeping their hatred to themselves. I am sickened by the so-called Christians
who use the gospel to promote their own political views.
Have you ever seen the movie Woodlawn? It’s the true story of racial strife in Birmingham, AL,
and what happens when Jesus shows up. It took one man with a true faith to step
forward and allow the Holy Spirit to use him. He could have fueled the flames
of unrest. He could have used the violence and discord to further his own
agenda. He didn’t. He turned his message to Jesus and that made all the
difference.
We are at a crossroads in our nation. The young are
rising up and we have a prime opportunity to turn tragedy into a call for
genuine faith. I don’t have the answers but Jesus does. He is the only One who
can minister to this deep hurt and create a change that brings healing to all
of us.
I want to live in a world where our children can
attend school without fear of unstable people killing them. I want them to know
the peace and security that comes when Jesus is at the helm of all our lives.
Jesus told us what to do. Get rid of the hate and
meanness that dot this country. Love God and love each other. Period.
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