Fiddling while Rome burns

All right, maybe Rome isn't burning but Baltimore sure did last night. Once again, sin has reared it's ugly head and destroyed lives. There was rioting in Baltimore last night. Why? It was following the funeral of Freddie Brown who died from injuries sustained in police custody. What happened to Freddie? I don't know. Did the police cause the injuries? I don't know. But I do know one thing, I will let the proper people figure it out. If there was wrong doing, it should be punished. That is the way it is meant to be.

So why riot and burn Baltimore? There is no reason. Just as there was no reason for the riots in Ferguson. To attack police is wrong. To burn other people's property is wrong. Are the people frustrated? Maybe there are some. I would venture to guess that the majority of the rioters really could care less about Freddie Brown just as the majority of the rioters could care less about Michael Brown. They just used this as an opportunity to go crazy, to burn some things, to attack those in authority, to hurt some people and to, well, let their sinful nature control their lives.

That's right. It is all about letting their sinful nature run amok. Our Lord tells us to love our enemies and do good to those who hurt us. That is the way of the Christian. We forgive. We uphold. We follow the way of the Lord. There was not a person in the rioting last night that was following the Lord. Were there Christians among the rioters? Probably. And they were sinning. The Lord would tell them to repent of their sins and not return to that sinful action.

This latest round of rioting in our country shows us one major problem - we are leaving behind the Lord. To act in such a way is to turn your back upon Him. You cannot do that and still say, "But I love Jesus." Read 1 John. Study it. Learn from it. We act as the Lord acts. When we fail, we confess our sins. As we confess our sins, we also ask that the Holy Spirit would work in our hearts and change us so that we don't do those things again.

What Baltimore needs is to return to the Lord. What Ferguson needs is to return to the Lord. What St. Louis needs is to return to the Lord. What Troy, IL needs is to return to the Lord. What we all need to do is return to the Lord. Daily we return to (wait for it) the waters of our Baptism. Daily the old sinful man must be drowned in those waters. Daily we need the Holy Spirit to change our hearts and lives. Until that happens, we will see riots in Baltimore and Ferguson and other places. Satan is hard at work.

Christians need to get to work, to share the Word, to proclaim Law and Gospel. Let's get busy.