Jeremiah 4.4 records, O people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power. Change your hearts before the LORD, or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins.
America is increasingly becoming more chaotic. Things are obviously out of control. Many people look for God to fix them.
Our thinking is that since He is all-powerful and loving He should want to end the trouble and has the power to do so. Yet it is not God causing the trouble. It is man against man that is creating our chaos.
It is people disregarding God and His commands who do what they want and what they want to do is steal, kill and destroy. God is looking for a sign from us that we are weary of living disobediently from Him and His ways. God is waiting for us to change and to solve our problem by loving instead of hating.
God works through humanity not around humanity, at least for the most part. Angels are not coming from heaven to stop us from killing each other.
We have to choose to love instead of hate, to forgive instead of take revenge. We are merely suffering from the consequences of our actions which reflect our thinking. We hate so we kill. We become angry so we take revenge. We want so we steal.
The Christian response to injustice is to suffer with love. Certainly we should cry out for justice but not demand it with more injustice. Martin Luther King Jr. did not organize political rallies that destroyed people and property. Dr. King suffered humiliation and injury, injustice, while demanding his followers love, suffer and forgive.
Dr. King took his orders from Jesus, Who as God, suffered injustice at the hands of men without crying out or taking revenge or demanding a defense. Injustice is defeated by righteousness. Gandhi practiced the same methodology.
Injustice is beaten by love, suffering and forgiveness. Certainly God will judge all people for their deeds when they pass from this life without His rule into the next life where He rules unequivocally. His judgement will not be a free pass to those who suffered but took revenge to bring about justice.
God will reward those who turned the other cheek when they were struck on the first one. God forgives those who forgave their enemies and did good to those who hated them. Only Christianity has such a message.
Muslims demand revenge and take it. Buddhists escape this world and ignore it. Hindus separate humanity so blame the plight of the disenfranchised upon themselves for they have ‘earned’ their injustice.
It is only Christianity that records God stating all humanity, male and female, are created in His image and have equal value. Only Christianity records God proclaiming His adopted children have no unequal status before Him or one another based upon color, class or competence.
The Church must find its voice and teach its people God’s ways then God’s people must obey. They must change their hearts and live lives of love, suffering and forgiveness if we are going to restore peace and justice to this nation.
God waits for the Church to wake up and do what He has commanded.
