Thursday, July 14, 2016
Cameron Sterling, the teenage old son of Alton Sterling, the Louisiana man who was killed recently by police in Baton Rouge displayed some remarkable wisdom for a 15 year old when he spoke in front of reporters on Wednesday morning. He said, in part: “I feel that people in general, no matter what their race is, should come together as one united family.” He added: “Yes, you can protest, but I want everyone to protest the right way. Protest in peace, not guns, not drugs, not alcohol, not violence.”
The Bible says: “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.” (Titus 1:15) Those who are pure minded would think that everyone would applaud this young man for his response. Not so! Many readers who commented on this internet story were quick to give their unkind opinions. Since he said that his father was a good man, one reader was quick to reply that even Mrs. Hitler thought her son was a good man. Another one wrote: “What you fail to realize is that the boy’s idolizing his dad puts him on the same path as his dad’s.” And these two were among the mild criticisms. In my case, I am blessed that this blog mostly goes out to those who know and love the Lord and is not seen by the general public. If they went public, I can only imagine the many unkind responses I would get. I’m sure not all of you agree with me with every position I take. Yet, the love of Christ in you keeps you from expressing yourself in a manner unbecoming of a child of God. For that, I am extremely grateful to God.
As it is with all other social issues of today, everybody had an opinion on the events in America in the past week and many different angles were presented but what this young man said was not only wise, it is biblical. Yes, there are injustices in the world and some are even committed by unlikely sources but the fact remains that violence and vengeance is not the answer. If everybody was kind and people everywhere would respect one another, would we be seeing things like these? People tend to think that there are some who will get off scot free and go unpunished for their crimes or misdeeds. Because of it, some of these are compelled to do something about it and consequently take matters into their own hands. Perhaps some will go unpunished in this lifetime, but not on the day of judgment. Jesus said: “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh.” (Matthew 18:7 KJV) The good thing is that in spite of all the negative news we see and hear every day, there is still a lot of good in the world because there are many who truly love God.
Memory verse for the week: (Deuteronomy 33:27) “The Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”
