Texas Shooting

My original blog for the week is going to be postponed because of the shooting in Texas at First Baptist Church.  Again the pain caused by a mass shooting has our nation in the grip of pain.  The pastor lost his 14-year-old daughter, as a pastor with daughters I cannot begin to imagine his pain.  The horrors of this atrocity remind us of the evil that is at work in our world.

What is the church to do?  How do we respond to the horrors of this another expression of evil?  At first, I thought about a list of useful and not so useful reactions to this moment, but I will leave that to smarter people than me.

As I heard and read about what happed the words of Jesus came to mind. 

“The thief comes only to kill, steal and destroy;

I came that you might have life and have it abundantly.”

The enemy and his underlings have not changed their motives or their tactics since the Garden.  Unable to assault The Almighty directly they would bring sorrow to God’s heart by hurting those He loves so passionately.   The enemy does this with all his deceits and tricks.  Be it a murder, an affair, an addiction, a perversion; name the sin and vice, the goal is always the same.  An attack on the Father’s heart by assaulting the ones He loves. 

So what can we do?  We can do what Jesus did.  Give our lives away so that people can know the grace of God and His gift of eternal life.  We will need to figure this out in our own lives and hearts, but our best response is to be faithful disciples of Jesus.  Love as Jesus loved, share as He shared, speak as He spoke, and proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God.  Let’s renew our commitment to that Kingdom.

This morning in worship I was moved to tears as I again considered the Father giving His Son for me.  I am moved again as I think of a pastor losing his daughter.  My emotions are raw and apt to become dark.  I am sad, I am angry, I am sick of it all.  But I have this hope.  Jesus will come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead.  Paul tells us that part of the judgments at the end of time will be when the saints judge the angels (fallen).  And in that day we will see the vengeful wrath of God poured out against the Accuser and we will say, “AMEN”!  For the evil that he prompted today there will be Hell to pay (literally) and the enemy will, before he is forever damned, bow before the glorified Christ and will confess that He is Lord, the glory of the Father. 

Come Lord Jesus, Amen

O land of rest, for thee I sigh!
When will the moment come
When I shall lay my armor by
And dwell in peace at home?

We’ll work till Jesus comes,
We’ll work till Jesus comes,
We’ll work till Jesus comes,
And we’ll be gathered home.

No tranquil joys on earth I know,
No peaceful, shelt’ring dome;
This world’s a wilderness of woe,
This world is not my home.

We’ll work till Jesus comes,
We’ll work till Jesus comes,
We’ll work till Jesus comes,
And we’ll be gathered home.