Another Sad Day
“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” Colossians 3:12-14
At the time of this writing, 20 people at Walmart in El Paso, Texas, buying their groceries, school supplies, and other items, went out into eternity by the hands of a young man who is apparently filled with hate. We don’t understand how someone could do such a horrible thing in taking the lives of complete strangers who never did anything to him. This could happen at any Walmart or other place where large numbers of people are gathered at any city or town in the U.S. There is really nothing that anyone can do to stop these types of mass murder. Even if the government confiscated guns, they could never get them all. The old bumper sticker is still true: “When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns”. This blog isn’t intended to be a statement on the 2nd amendment to the constitution, but more of a call to examine ourselves and what we can do to be peacemakers in and around our communities.
One way to examine ourselves as to where we stand in our Christian life, the above verses provide a good checklist of the qualities of a God-honoring life. Paul begins with the need to “put on” bowels of mercies. The term “bowels” as used in scripture language represents the base of tenderness and compassion. It makes us wonder if this young man and others like him had experienced mercy and compassion in their young lives. Were they taught to love others and accept them as folks whom God loved? Were they taught kindness and humility? It is much easier to be kind to others than to be hurtful. To be humble is to put others ahead of ourselves. Jesus set the standard for humility when He died on the cross for us sinners.
Meekness is strength under control, and Jesus also set the standard for meekness. He could have called thousands of angels to rescue Him, but He went to the cross in order to save us from our sins. Longsuffering means having patience in trials and not taking revenge for wrongs done against oneself. It is usually thought that those who commit these mass shootings feel like they have been wronged by others in some way or another, and they believe that they can get revenge by killing others. They apparently seek attention and will get it anyway they can. To forbear one another means overlooking faults because we all have faults. That doesn’t mean we condone sin in others, but know that others need forgiveness just like we do. I can understand that it is going to be very difficult for those who have lost loved ones in this tragedy and in past shootings to forgive the shooter. The survivors of these tragedies will never understand why these tragedies happen, and neither will any of us.
It matters how we live our lives, and it matters what we teach our children. It all boils down to love. A person who feels no love is not able to love. All we can do now is to pray for the survivors and pray for the ones who do such horrible deeds. We know that Satan is alive and well and is working on the younger generation to keep them in his grip. This tragedy won’t stop me from going to my local Walmart, but I probably won’t go there without thinking about what happened on a sunny August Saturday in El Paso, Texas.