I sit here holding my beautiful son. Thinking about how precious life is and how easily we take it for granted.
We don't mean to but we all do it.
We get caught up in the day to day existence.
The laundry
The dinner
The news
Facebook
Twitter
Television
Games
Shopping
Cooking
Cleaning
Diapers
Church activities
WHERE IS THAT MATCHING SOCK!?
You name it.
We get caught up in it. And I only listed the "good" things we get caught up in. What about all the not so good things? What about the evil things?
What about the stuff we do that seriously goes against the Bible?!
What about those things?
What about the sin?
Even the small sins?
What about those?
This tragedy with Boston and all the other tragedies have happened.
Yup, that's true.
Those poor lost people did evil things. And many people's lives were changed forever or they died too soon! And I know what we think. We think:
"those are BIG sins!"
"I could never do that to anyone"
"How could someone do something so evil?"
"They deserve to go to hell"
"They deserve to die"
"They deserve the death penalty"
"Someone white would never do that"
"All people of other races are far more evil than Caucasians!"
These are just a few of the disgusting things I have read on Twitter and Facebook!
Sad.
The reality is different than any of those thoughts! ^
The reality is
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
Romans 3:23
We have all done things we regret.
Yes, perhaps we haven't killed anyone. But for people who choose to take the forgiveness offered to us through Jesus, we have a new life to live.
We have a different standard to uphold. A different way we must view humanity.
Everyone deserves a chance for forgiveness.
God will judge everyone.
But He also forgives us for our shortcomings and our sins.
BIG and SMALL
I know it is easy to think that the 2 persons who hurt and killed those people in Boston or the young man who killed those children in Newtown, are far worse than us regular people.
When reality is we are all lost without our Savior.
We were each given our life on this earth.
We were given, our parents.
The way they raised us.
We didn't choose that. And the way we are raised molds who we are. It can take a lifetime for a person to get over how they were raised. Especially when that upbringing damaged them in ways that are hard to heal. I have met children who will be struggling for their entire life. Yes, they can find Jesus and let Him heal their heart. But the physical and emotional damage that has been done is reprehensible and nearly impossible to change.
We don't choose some things that happen to us. Sometimes, Satan gets into the minds of people and they believe the lies the Enemy tells them.
Every human is flawed and every person has been given the ability to choose.
That freedom can go both ways.
Evil and good.
Without being raised with morals, we cannot expect people to simply inherently know what is right from wrong! To expect that isn't fair. BECAUSE if we sit here and judge, we are trying to be God. Even though we aren't God and we are also not in that person's shoes.
We sit here with morals because someone taught them to us. We cannot say how we would've turned out had we been raised differently.
I keep hearing people say that, they should have known what was right. But reality is, those people saying that learned their morals somewhere. And they are taking that 'SOMEWHERE' for granted.
I myself have done that before as well. Even though, my mother raised me and my siblings to love God and treat others with kindness, it's easy to see what others are doing and think,
"WOW, I would never do that!" ...
WELL, DUH!!
Of course I wouldn't because my mother taught me better than that! But some people's moms do not teach them things. Frankly, plenty of women have children that they didn't even want. And those poor sweet souls are treated with disdain.
Now with all of that said, I believe whole heartily, the Body of Christ has lost touch with what is important! We have decided that judgement is the answer. Yes, what those men did was horrible. But have we come that far from understanding the Bible? And Jesus' sacrifice? Do we take ourselves THAT seriously? That because we no longer sin small that we are somehow better than people that sin BIG!
Big sins:
Abortion
Murder
Suicide attempts
Terrorism
Robbery
Abusive behavior
Porn star
And on another note, what about all of the people that sin SMALL? And what I mean by sin small, I mean these sins:
Smoking
Drinking
Cursing
Promiscuity
Sex outside of marriage
Watching pornography
Yelling at your children
Those are just a few. I know I could keep going.
But I think you get the point.
All the things I listed are equal in God's eyes. They truly are.
When Jesus was hanging on the cross He talked with the man hanging next to Him. This is the excerpt from the Gospel of Luke.
Luke 23:32-43,
32 Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him. 33 When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. 34 But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. 35 And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One." 36 The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, 37 and saying, "If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!" 38 Now there was also an inscription above Him, "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS." 39 One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, "Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!" 40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 "And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." 42 And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" 43 And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."
Now, for a little history lesson. In order to be sentenced to death by crucifixion you had to do dastardly evil things. Things such as, rape or murder. It was a similar equivalent to the death penalty today. We do not give the death penalty to just any criminal. And all it took was for the criminal on the cross to believe in Jesus and he was saved.
Jesus forgave him for his sins.
The least we could do is understand that everyone can have forgiveness!
We don't deserve it.
None of us do.
But we can all have it through Jesus.
He can save you as He has saved me.
He can comfort those who are hurting.
He has brought me great peace since my Grandfather George passed away.
Pray for your loved ones.
Pray for Boston.
Pray for the lost individuals
