No matter how we may feel — and right now anger rules the land (it’s what causes a video to go “viral”; a virus it is!) — there is no indignation, however righteous, that excuses the negligence of love. It doesn’t matter what we think; it matters how God judges. And overwhelmingly, love is His standard.
I mentioned this last night during a very conservative and good radio show broadcast in Phoenix, for the topic, of course, was all the shooting (no better demonstration of the opposite of love). In El Paso, it was a disturbed fellow with rightist politics. In Dayton, it was a disturbed fellow with left-wing politics. We see here that hatred — evil — is on all sides.
So is good. What to avoid: extremes. The enemy is a spirit of extremes.
“When a good thing like cultural heritage is made into an idol, then injustice is the result,” wrote John Dawson, an expert on demonology.
“I [once] preached to a large, multi-racial gathering at the Durban Convention Center in South Africa. I spoke on the sin of unrighteous judgment and closed the message by leading us in repentance of racial stereotypes and prejudice. We each washed the feet of someone of another race. Thousands of Afrikaners, Zulus, Indians, English, and blacks wept in each other’s arms as a spirit of reconciliation spread. This may seem like a small victory, but political reformation will grow only out of territory gained in the unseen realm.”
Note the new “special report” coming later this week on “principalities and powers” that rule over various territories.
There are legitimate concerns over borders. There are legitimate concerns over stereotyping. There are grievances on all sides. But one thing is certain: though difficult for us men to get “mushy,” it must be known that we are always wrong when we approach anything in this life from an aspect that does not involve what God is, which is love.
–MHB
[Michael Brown pilgrimage]