We Know That You Are God and You Are Good

It seems like over the last seven days, this world has been bombarded and attacked by evil that is almost unimaginable.  Almost. 

As I'm writing this, here are the current headlines on CNN.com:

7 suspects arrested, 2 killed, including 1 who blew herself up
6 dead in campsite murder spree
New clues: Dead girls in barrels
Bombing makes them Stronger
Ringleader: Was he killed?

Some of those headlines are stories covering the recent attacks in Paris, while others are stories that have nothing to with Paris, but everything to do with evil. Evil is abounding in this world, and it is heartbreaking.  It hurts to think about, brings questions from our children that we struggle to answer, and causes adults all over the world to wonder why.  Even Christians, who have an unwavering faith in Christ, are pleading for His intervention.

NEWSFLASH: Christ HAS intervened.  Christ HAS stepped in to a broken, depraved, hopeless generation.  He offered peace, hope, healing, and life to a people that did not and do not deserve it.

The effect of sin on this world breaks the heart of our God.  In Scripture, He openly weeps (John 11) and groans (Mark 7) when He witnesses his people devastated from the brokenness of this world.  It wasn't supposed to be this way!

When Jesus looks upon the city of Paris, he doesn't do so from a distance, or as a Creator disinterested in the life of His creation.

When Jesus looks upon a horrendous scene at a campsite, he doesn't turn his back and move on, or shrug and begin work on the next disaster.

When a miscarriage occurs, or the death of a child from a horrible cancer, or the senseless murder of a gang member in the inner city, Jesus is not absent.  He has not removed Himself from that situation or abandoned those families that are now suffering an unimaginable loss.

He is weeping for the only part of His creation that he deemed "very good."  

So he intervened.  He intervened in a way that IS unimaginable.  He willingly subjected Himself to the same evil that is ravaging the world today.  He was willingly tortured, beaten, spit upon, and murdered.

He intervened so that our battle with this evil would only be temporary.  He intervened so that one day these headlines will cease and only HIS name will remain.  He intervened so that the same people committing these horrendous acts would have an opportunity to know their Creator.

He intervened so that the man who wrote the majority of the New Testament, a murderer, persecutor, and hater of all people different than him, would have the opportunity for life.

Jesus willingly subjected himself to the evil of the world so that Paul, a man who could be equated with the same terrorists who devastated Paris,  could receive LIFE.

"For I am the LEAST of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the GRACE OF GOD I am what I am." (1 Corinthians 15:9-10)

By the grace of God, grace MOST undeserved, Paul knew who he was: A terrorist who was given life by Jesus when he least deserved it.

By the grace of God, grace MOST undeserved, I know who I am: A wretched man who was given life by Jesus when I least deserved it.

And, with the intervention of the grace of God, grace MOST undeserved, we should pray the people behind the attacks in Paris, and those behind every act of horrendous evil, come to know who they are: Wretched, broken people offered life by Jesus when they least deserve it.

I believe the role of the Christian in a time like this is simple: We don't pray or plead or argue for their death.  We pray and plead with the Lord in Heaven for their life.  Not because they deserve it, but because we didn't deserve it either. 

We pray and plead for his intervention in this broken generation.  We pray, like Paul, for his quickened return because then we will be made entirely whole again.  But, like Paul, until that day, we must recognize that there is work to be done. 

Work that we should want to be a part of. 
To love people, forgotten by their own nation, even if we're unsure about our safety. 
To pray not for death, but for life. 
To pray not only for safety, but also for opportunity.
And to pray for God's glory, not for our vengeance.

We already own the promise that death has no hold over us.  We should want that same promise for every person of whom God spoke when he said, "it is very good."

"When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall it come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  BUT THANKS BE TO GOD, WHO GIVES US THE VICTORY THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.   Therefore, beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:54-58)

Lord, may we not be a people that believe only we are deserving of the grace you've given.  AMEN.