Or it’s just a terrible, horrible, very bad, no good day.
As the world continues to reveal it’s brokenness, and peoples lives reach their boiling point, you and I have a choice. We have an important choice. Actually, five important choices.
As humans, men, women, mothers, sisters, friends, and neighbors, our choices have impact. On us, and our world. Additionally, if we call ourselves Christians, those who believe in Jesus and seek to follow him… We not only have a choice but a God-calling on our lives.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.
Mark 12:30-31
Many will say they love Jesus, yet hate their neighbors. As people who love Jesus and want our lives to give evidence to that, we have an opportunity. To offer something different to a world stoked with division. We can offer love, hope and peace.
It will require us to make some choices though.
We can choose…
WHO?
Who we are going to be. We can choose to submit ourselves to God and therefore our speech, attitude and actions. Especially when He urges us, like he did Peter, to “put our sword away”. I’m not just talking a physical sword my friends… sometimes the words out of my mouth can cut deeper than any weapon. Or when we are reminded to show kindness to those we disagree with. Or to stand up for what is true and right when no one else is. Listen, we can’t just muster up our best big girl manners here. We need something beyond ourselves to compel us towards these ends. We need the “what”.
WHAT?
What will we do. What will we do first. When met with injustice, accusations, harsh realities, and a world gone nuts. Will we choose to pray. Not only for our country, our offenders, the evil and deception plaguing our world. But also, for ourselves. Admitting our own pride and shortcomings. Asking God to equip us with the grace and love that only He can provide.
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
Philippians 2:13
We can also pray that God will protect what he has ordained and that His justice would prevail.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Romans 13:1
WHERE?
Where will we place our hope. Instead of putting our hope in a political savior, may we choose to put our hope in the only Savior. Jesus who is the only hope of redemption and restoration for a sinful broken world and people.
Instead of putting our hope in a set of policies or moral code, putting our hope in God. Who graciously works in and through people, like you and I, in order to bring about transformed lives, families, and communities. This is where our hope can lie.
WHEN?
When will we choose. When we feel justified, satisfied, or that we’ve no other options? Whether on our best day or our worst day, we still have a choice. We can choose to:
- submit ourselves to God and His truth
- pray for ourselves, our friends, and our enemies
- hope in the ONE who completely holds all things together amidst a world gone nutty
HOW?
So how do we do these things? What steps can we take to choose rightly, to find some clarity, and hope… for ourselves and our community, amidst so much pain and havoc?
One of the most impactful principles, I’ve learned to put into practice in my own life, is just that… The How. How to win against worry and find an anchor amidst the devastating. How to sift through the garbage and find truth. How to avoid the downward spiral of fear and anxiety and tangibly walk in freedom. You can read what that looks like for you and I right here.
I am here with you my friend. Shocked and saddened by the harsh realities of living in a world gone mad. However, I’m also here to grasp our faces, hold them tightly in my hands, and whisper… this will not be the end of us. We have a God who is eternally in control and unceasingly good.
XOXO,
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