Do not repay evil with evil

My sister posted this quote on Facebook today,


 "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that" -- Martin Luther King Jr




It strikes me that as awful as Osama bin Laden was this should be our attitude, because we should never hate someone, or rejoice in their demise, simply because they are evil or did evil things.  Ultimately it is God's responsibility to punish those who do evil (although He has provided us with a judicial system that helps in some punishment on earth).  


In Romans 12, Paul says
 "¹⁸If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
 ¹⁹Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord.
 ²⁰"BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD."
 ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."


Wouldn't it be a wonderful world to live in if this was the attitude of all people?

I Will Choose...

My current favorite Steven Curtis Chapman song "Faithful" has a line in it that I think exemplifies Christianity. "I am choosing to believe You are faithful..." Everything about what we believe is based on us making a conscious choice to believe what God tells us; that He is who He says He is. God goes as far as showing us everything we need to know and then stops. He says to us, "There it is, that's who I am, that's what I want you to believe. What will you choose?" He then leaves it to us to decide whether or not we will take Him at face value. He's never claimed to be other than what He is, the God of the universe; Perfect and Holy. He's never asked more than we are willing to give Him but what He wants is our whole lives. He wants us to choose to give Him everything, our whole lives; heart, mind and soul. We need to make a choice to believe what He tells us and accept what He offers or NOT; but choosing to not believe and accept will cost us everything. So do we choose to believe and give God everything OR do we choose to NOT believe and lose everything?

Of course, in giving God everything, we gain so much more than we give up.

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This post was written by hand, shortly before the sermon Sunday morning attached to this post, its a nice connector.