Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.-Matthew 5:7-9
Desperate to defend his comrades, a sailor or soldier somewhere in
They were-tragically-also unintentionally devastating.
Miles away, a young Hawaiian woman was struck and killed in her home by the shell fired by that soldier.
Who could have guessed there would be unintended victims on the ground from firing at planes in the air?
Who could have guessed---?***
How often have we said those words?
How often do our words and deeds leave unintended victims in their wake? It's why Christians, in particular, have an obligation to live careful lives of intentional obedience. It's why we're called to meekness and humility, speaking cautiously even in defense of those things we are most passionate about. God is never honored when our passion drowns out evidence of His compassion, even when the drowning is unintentional.
Verbal volleys fired at anyone almost always miss the target, but they never, ever fail to inflict damage. Railing against someone who's sinning willingly (and who could generally care less what we think) often deeply wounds people struggling secretly with the same sin. Our rhetoric, ratcheted up in a failed attempt to get the attention of our target, drives the wounded away from us when they most need us to be their prayer warriors and encouragers.
Especially in election years, we Christians crank up the volume of our outrage and fire volley after volley at public faces, never really seeing how many private faces have turned from us and our Savior because of our tone.
We have the gift of grace! We are recipients of undeserved forgiveness and unconditional love, and by accepting those gifts we've also assumed a role as ambassadors of those two traits. (see II Corinthians 5:20)
We also have something no other humans possess: The power of the Holy Spirit to help us avoid unintended victims of our too-little-thought-out actions. That power is only available to people who understand the Scriptures, and only people who know Jesus can understand the Scriptures.
We see this most clearly when we study the disciples, who after three years of living with and listening to Jesus, still didn't understand Him or His mission. At the end of His time on Earth, Luke records one of the most important moments in the disciples' lives (and one of the most important Scripture passages in our lives).
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.-Luke 24:45
Jesus is the "magic decoder ring" for understanding the mysteries of Scripture. That's precisely why knowing about Jesus, and knowing Jesus is the difference between life and death. It can also be the difference between bearing fruit or inflicting scars.
Let our voices be the sound of His noble and unerring compassion, instead of our often errant passion. Let people mark us as merciful, pure in heart and peacemakers.
Then we ourselves will be shown His mercy, will be shown His face, and joy of joys, be called "the sons and daughters of God!"
--Randy Kilgore
Desired Haven Ministries, Inc.
***From an eyewitness account recorded in Studs Terkel's compelling book on World War II, "The Good War."
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