I am aching for our neighbors in Tucson as they recover from this violent act. Do you feel it, too? One of our national leaders remains in a medically induced coma and another family mourns the loss of their nine year-old daughter, Christina. She was visiting Representative Gifford to learn more about the political process of our country [Dear God, have mercy on us]. And we mourn for a young man whose life had become so broken that he would pick up a 9mm and visit a Safeway.
As political parties point fingers and the media makes revenue from their 24-hour coverage, how will the Christian community respond? How will I respond? What ethic of Jesus can guide us? I believe Romans 12:21 sums it up better than any other:
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Good is greater than evil. There is no middle ground on this, friends. Either you believe this or you don’t. No truth more clearly describes the life and death of Jesus than this; a simple, earth-shattering statement in the middle of Paul’s epic letter to those living under the brutal rule of the Roman Empire. Hear Paul’s message again. Jesus does not lead us to brashly jump into heated political debates and name-calling, that’s a defensive posture. Jesus was never defensive. He was too good to be defensive… or to put it more clearly, his goodness was too good to be threatened. Instead, Jesus brought a goodness to bear that outshines the darkness, that is more true than the lies of hate, that is more lovely than the violence of retaliation. Brothers and sisters, that’s “who is in you” and this is why we respond with goodness and love.
-Russ
January 11th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
Thank you for this post, Russ. Well said.
August 17th, 2011 at 3:48 pm
Yes Russ, well said.