Friday, August
18, 2017
Never pay back evil with more evil…Don’t let evil conquer
you, but conquer evil by doing good.
Romans 12:17, 21(NLT)
Anger does
that to all of God’s creatures; it wears us out! And with due respect to all that is holy and
right, it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference which side of an argument you
choose; anger is going to wear you out.
In this
country we have watched anger and its expressions of violence break out like
volcanic explosions. In Charlottesville
this past week the (so-called) alt-Right ultra conservatives, neo-Nazis and
white supremacists came face to face with the (so-called) alt-Left,
anti-fascist liberals[2];
the clash of these groups’ anger resulted in three dead and 20 more injured,
and un-ending news coverage and political wrangling.
I will not
presume to hold-forth a solution to the woes of a nation divided as we are; I’m
not that clever (or that stupid). This
is as complex as it gets.
This
morning I would simply offer a comment on the nature of how our culture’s mood has (and is) missing the
mark by a wide margin. Scripture shows
us alt-Good and its
evil twin alt-Evil.
David’s
Psalm suggested an alt-good
national mood:
How wonderful and
pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! Psalm 133:1(NLT)
Paul’s statement
on human nature reveals the alt-Evil
fly in harmony’s ointment:
And “don’t sin by
letting anger control you.” Ephesians
4:26a(NLT)
When anger
enters the picture the body count grows.
All you have to do is look at Wellie’s toys to figure that out! Our national sin is the anger, vitriol, and
violence thrown at each other like water on a grease fire; it won’t cease
raging…ever! And with that image comes a
cry for some kind of hope…how can we put out the fires of our discontent?
There is no
easy answer to that…certainly not in a three minute devotional thought. But there is a direction today’s scripture from Genesis suggests:
Joseph named his
second son Ephraim, for he said, “God has made me fruitful in this land of
my grief.” Genesis 41:52(NLT)
Joseph was
ripped violently from his homeland, sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely
accused by his owner’s wife of rape, betrayed by people he’d helped, and yet
remained without anger. He named his son
Ephraim – fruitfulness in grief. This is much like Paul’s statement to the
church at Philippi:
…for I have
learned how to be content with whatever I have.
Philippians 4:11(NLT)
In the
worst and best circumstances of his life Joseph celebrated being useful in the
conditions life threw at him.
And now
look to the best example; in the midst of extreme hatred and undeserved evil,
there was One who gave his life on a cross to make a way of reconciliation with
God for those who despised him most.
For You Today
You chew on
that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
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