Psalm 34:12-16 “Who is the
man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see
good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of
the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to
their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.”
During this COVID-19
pandemic, last Sunday, Pastor Kyle broadcasted a video sermon dealing with the
biblical response to the protest issues that we are currently experiencing due
to social injustice. He stated that the anger that we have been seeing is not
just about racism, but the root cause. This deep issue is not new, but the pain
of it is resurfacing in our time in a new way. Racism is sinful and abhorrent
to God. All of us are created in the likeness of God and yet there is not
equality by mankind. Pastor Kyle is not trying to be political r be politically
correct. He is speaking as a fellow human being.
Romans 12:2 “And do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God.”
There is a problem on this
tense topic in this very tense time in our world. But tension is not a bad
thing inherently. It’s what we do with that tension that matters. As
Christians, the most powerful tool that any of us have is a listening ear. But,
also know that our Christian voice can cut through to people who would not
listen to others and impact them for good. We all can listen and we all can
learn. None of us are free from bias. Spend some time thinking on what your
bias’ are and how they stop us from seeing the truth and seeing people the way
that God sees them.
1 Peter 3:8-12 Finally,
all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as
brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not
returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the
contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may
inherit a blessing. For “He who would love life and see good days, let
him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let
him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue
it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His
ears are open to their prayers; but the face of
the Lord is against those who do evil.”
The Apostle Peter lays out
some hard issues that every person needs to deeply wrestle through in their own
heart. The implications seem to be that until we wrestle deep issues, better
days will escape us. There is a light at the end of every tunnel for the
Believer in Jesus Christ. And, if you are not a Believer then this statement is
not true for you. This world sill be as light as it will ever get for you. But,
for the Believer, this world is as dark as it will ever get for you. So, if you
are not a Believer in Jesus Christ, today is the day to convert. For
Christians, there are always better days ahead. The Apostle is telling us that
there are things we need to do in order to see better days return.
Here are some things that Peter
says has to happen. (1) We need to seek unity by listening to and loving those
who think differently. Verse 8 says “be of one mind”, meaning having the mind
of Christ. Philippians 2:5 says,
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Jesus’ mind is
available to everyone who calls themselves a Christian. It is not your or my
perspective to gather unity around; it is Jesus’ perspective. Keeping the mind
of Christ starts with knowing God’s holy Word, listening to others,
self-examination and self-reflection on issues that we might not see eye to eye
on. Unity is not having God make those on the other side of an issue calm down
and change. Maybe, God doesn’t need to change them as much as God need to
change us. Some pains need to be listened to and loved over for a periods of
time to heal. We are to seek unity and the mind of Christ.
Let’s continue Pastor Kyle’s
message on “looking better days” in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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