I cannot imagine the pain, what it must be like to be one of the parents, one of the teachers, one of the children in Uvalde, TX this morning. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be one of the patrons, one of the workers, or one of the community members in Buffalo, NY in the days following the mass murder. I cannot imagine...no I cannot.
Terrible events. Murder. Massacre. Death. These things are so terrible. They happen. Just when we think we have moved beyond such events, another one happens. Just when we think we have a handle of what is going on in life, something takes place.
Awful. Terrible. Nothing brings into focus the fact that we must do something to change the way things are in our communities. There will be talk about gun control. There will be talk about red flag laws. There will be talk about one party being the party of hate. There will be all sorts of things being talked about. There will be talk about mental illness. There will be hand wringing and then it will begin, the placing of blame upon someone missing something and not reporting it. There will be blame. There will be so much said.
What can be done so this won't happen again? What laws can be put into place? What kind of security can be put into place to stop this from happening? We will try to figure this out.
There is one need - Jesus. We have pushed the Lord out of the way, setting Him on the shelf, making sure that no one pushes the message of the Gospel upon anyone. We need to bring that message back into hearts and lives.
This last Sunday I preached about peace. I mentioned that the peace of this world can be shattered in a moment. And it was in Uvalde. In that moment, the peace that they felt was shattered, broken. People's hearts and lives were broken. Where is the peace? Where the peace to be found in this situation? What can be said? Where? What? So many questions.
Peace cannot be found in the things in this world. We live in a broken, sinful world. Evil is present each day. Evil cannot be stopped because it does not follow the law, it does not care for others. Evil could care less about anyone but itself, and it wants to destroy and cause more pain and suffering. We will put more laws in place. We will put more security in place. There will be things put in place. Will it stop evil? No. Will it stop someone from doing such a horrific act? No. Why? Because evil does not care. Evil seeks only to create chaos, pain and suffering. Period.
So where is peace found. "In me is peace..." Jesus said in John 16:33a. There is the only place to find peace. In Jesus Christ. In faith in Him. In this fallen, broken world, we need to turn to Jesus. We need to turn to Him each and every day, not just in such a tragedy, but in days where there is no tragedy. As Jesus said, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world." John 16:33
This is terrible. This should not have happened. But I will tell you this, it will happen again. Not because of lack of gun control, or lack of security, or whatever. It will happen because there is evil in this world. It is only as Christ changes hearts and lives will things change. Only in Christ.
It isn't just in such tragedy that we find pain and suffering. It happens when cancer takes a life, when heart disease takes a life, when a traffic accident takes a life, when a person takes his own life, when there is abuse, when there is hatred, when there is anger, when there is personal attack. All of these are from evil, from this world. In Christ alone, can this be changed.
I pray for the folks in Uvalde. I pray for the folks in Buffalo. I pray for folks in the hospital. I pray for folks undergoing treatments. I pray for folks in difficult and painful situations. I pray that the ONE, Jesus Christ will come into their lives, into their brokenness, and bring them personal peace that is found in Him. Yes, we live in a broken world, but we have One who has overcome the world. Look to Jesus Christ for peace.
While I agree with some of what you said, there is one major mistake. This country is ROOTED in guns in a way that most others are not because yes, the ONE SIDE of hate uses words written centuries ago to defend them owning all types of TOYS (weapons). Other countries HAVE successfully dropped their mass murder rates (in our country a mass murder is 3+, but here I am talking a more nuanced 8+ which requires a more special type toy/weapon) by passing stricter gun laws. Many other countries have done this. So I find it odd that after a writing about how other preachers water down, or are scared to tell the truth, YOU would not tell the truth and just parrot the side you ALWAYS try to defend in your writings and sermons. Weird. And frankly, I have to wonder why after pursuing a doctorate, you didn't discover how much your personal politics creeps in under the guise of the "biblical teachings" when there is no supporting passages (at least not if kept in historical context. Sigh.
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