It feels more apparent now than ever that our world is a messed up, broken place.
Walking into a movie theater, mall, sporting event and even church can give me the heebie-jeebies, constantly turning my head to see each new person who enters and make sure they aren’t toting a gun. This is not normal. This is not how it should be. But I’ve so easily crept into the behaviors that it’s starting to feel natural.
There have been many nights that I’ve laid in bed for sometimes hours, wide awake, fearful of all the horrible possibilities of random tragedies that could occur even in my small town, no amount of self-talk able to get me to sleep.
I have made the mistake of watching the news before bed and been awoken several times with nightmares of guns, terror and violence.
As my pastor said in his last message (Redemption Songs, Pt. 2: The Benedictus), every day we are met with another tragedy. Evil is running rampant in our world and it makes us scared. In our fear we clamp down. We want it stamped out. We think we can eliminate the threat and stay safe, but what keeps us up at night is knowing deep down that we can’t. History says that we can’t educate sin out of people and we can’t destroy evil permanently. The longing that we have for safety is good and natural, but ultimately, it can only be found fulfilled in Jesus.
As a control freak, I admit that this makes me crazy.
But as a Christian, there is good news.
Paul says in Col. 2 that on the cross Jesus didn’t just atone for sin, but as he hung there, rejected by both heaven and earth, he also defeated evil.
He took the worst that evil could dish out—he bore death, and then he defeated it.
As my pastor said, “Our hope for a world or peace, safety and security is not more legislation, it’s not closed borders, it’s not less guns or more guns. Our hope is in a savior that has already defeated death, who has given those who have faith in him that same victory–that death cannot permanently touch us–and has promised to come again to be the one to put evil down fully and finally.”
As we approach our next election with debates and campaigning, I will remember that as a Christian, I need not put my hope in a stronger ruler.
Our king has come and defeated our greatest enemies and he will come again.
I have to rest in this or I may never sleep again.
💛
