Tag Archives: Evil

Broken People Do Broken Things

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“In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33

“Broken people do broken things.”

I first heard this nugget of wisdom form a funeral home director.  He and I were riding in the hearse to a graveside service after having left the funeral home and a family that was fighting with each other.  I don’t remember why they were fighting (probably something to do with inheritance), but I was visibly shaken and the director could tell.  I remember asking why they couldn’t get past their difference for at least an hour and be civil with one another during the service, and that’s when he said it, “Broken people do broken things.”

I don’t think he meant it to excuse their behavior, but perhaps to change my perspective on the world.  The world is full of broken people.  Some have managed to put a good spin on their brokenness, their sins are the acceptable kind that are given a wink by society.  For others, their brokenness is clear for everyone to see, and often that brokenness is worn as a “red badge of courage.”

Hasn’t the brokenness of the world reared its ugly head this week?  Over the weekend we heard of ISIS having beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians , and this just after the news of the death of Kayla Mueller, the burning of the Jordanian pilot, their names added to a very long list of victims of horrible terror . (I read just this morning of another report that ISIS had burned to death another 45  people in an Iraqi town.) There was the shooting rampage in Denmark, the foiled terror plans in Canada, the murder of three students at the University of Connecticut.  Add to that the horrible news coming from Lennox, SD, where I’ll soon be moving, of a gunman who shot two people and then killed himself – all because of an argument over a delivery.

It’s all the kind of thing that makes you not want to get out of bed in the morning.

I make no effort to make sense of senseless violence. You cannot explain or rationalize brutality like this. Sometimes, all it feels you can do is throw up your hands, keep your head down, and resign yourself to the fact that “lost people do lost things.”

But that is not the Christian message.

I don’t purport to have all the answers regarding evil and it’s place in the world.  I must leave that discussion to better minds than mine.  But I do believe that our faith has something important to say in the midst of such atrocities.

First, we must realize that evil is real, and we live in a fallen world.  Since Adam’s fall, all the world has been subjected to futility, and creation itself awaits the revealing of the sons of God in which it too will be released from its bondage to corruption (see Romans 8).  Suffering and violence, natural disasters and wars, these are symptoms of a greater sickness, namely, we live in world that subjected to corruption because of man’s sin and rebellion from God.

Second, I believe Scripture teaches that God has a purpose in everything, including the evil we face in this life.  Often it is hard to see and difficult to understand – and we may never find in this life the ultimate meaning that is hidden in the heart of sorrow, disappointment, and grief.  But we remember the words of Joseph to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Gen 50:20).  Even more, we see God’s providence working even in the death of Jesus Christ, who was holy and without sin, the greatest tragedy ever committed on the face of the earth, and yet through His death and resurrection, we find the salvation of all who would call upon His name (Acts 3:13-16).

Finally, we must remember, evil does not have the last word.  Though their powers may flare and cause us to tremble, though

this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear for, God hath willed his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.

We abound in hope, even in the face of evil, tragedy, and loss. We abound in hope because we know that because Christ has been raised in victory over death, those whose lives are hidden in Him have received that victory as well.  We know that no matter what we face, even if we are handed over for tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or the sword, “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us…” and nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:31-39).

In John 16:33 Jesus says, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Christ has overcome!  Therefore, in good times and in bad, let us look to Him that we may be “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord [our] labor is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58).

SDG

Standing in the Wake of Evil

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 “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
(Romans 12:21)

 On Monday, April 15, two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing 3 and wounding over 140 others.  Currently, two days later, we still know nothing about committed this act of terror, or even why.  As if knowing would somehow bring meaning to such tragedy, as though there could possibly be some explanation to justify the killing of innocent men, women, children.

I struggle to find the words that would express the heartbreak, the anger, the fear that such violence brings.  Lately, I’ve found myself reading the Psalms just to have something to pray, it has been difficult to find my own words.

Truth be told, I am also saddened by the “knee-jerk” reaction of my own mind – this had to have been some Islamic terrorist striking fear into the nation – that’s where my thoughts went immediately.  There’s no proof.  Outside of historical trends, there’s nothing to support the notion.  It’s just my hatred, my fear, my anger needing someone, something, to stand as a target.  When faced with evil, it is easy to respond with evil, quick decisions, rash assumptions, broad generalizations, and indiscriminate retribution.  How many times after 9/11 did you hear people talking about turning the Middle East to glass?

So how do we respond?  What can we say?  Let me offer, briefly, a few responses.

Remember we live in a broken and sinful world.  While we can often feel secure in our own quiet corners of the world, having managed our sins into respectability, the truth is that the world is broken and evil is very much real.  We live in a world that is in desperate need of salvation, and every day we must “be killing sin, or sin will be killing us.”

Remember that we are called to compassionate ministry.  Paul says in Romans 12:15, “weep with those who weep.”  In 2 Corinthians Paul blesses God, “the Father of all mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”  The comfort that you have received in Christ, the assurance of your salvation, the mercy of your pardon from sin, the grace of everlasting life; all of this is the comfort we have received from God, and the comfort we can share with others.

Remember to give thanks for God’s daily grace.  When you realize that this kind of violence is shocking and rare for us, we can be grateful for the restraining grace of God that protects us and prevents us from even greater evil.  Such remembrance, however, should also cause us to prayer for those for whom this kind of violence is commonplace, like those in Israel, and all of the Middle East.  Let us also be grateful for those who ran into danger to help those in need, the first responders, the other runners and bystanders.

Repent.  Repent of the anger and rage, the thirst for vengeance that is smeared with sin.  Repent of the dependence on military strength and political savvy as the source of your security and confidence.  Repent of the quiet complacency with the “acceptable sins” of our society while decrying this outrageous act of violence.  We will not rest until this act of terror is brought to justice and rightfully so.  But should we not also be as committed to seeking justice for the thousands of unborn who died on April 15, to the countless lives lost in Kermit Gosnell’s government funded death clinic?  R.C. Sproul once wrote, “The American psyche has no place for a God who judges people or nations.  God can bless us, but God forbid He ever judges us.  Rather than repent in dust and ashes before a holy God, we continue to shake our fists in His face, demanding a more benevolent providence from His hand.”

Live for the Kingdom of God.  The rest of Romans 12:9-21 speaks to our moving forward. I’ve highlighted a few verses here:

    • Let love be genuine.
    • Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
    • Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.  If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
    • Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
    • To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Finally, remember Christ is coming.  We longing for the day when, rather than blood in the streets, righteousness will roll like the streams, when God will judge the actions of man, and righteousness will reign.  We look to that day when He will wipe away every tear, “and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4).

And so we pray, Come Lord Jesus!