Tuesday, March 22, 2016

James 1:12-18

James 1:12-18
Contemporary English Version (CEV)

 Evil is a real force in the world.  We awake to news of terror attacks in Brussels, and my first response is fear -- I am afraid for the people in Brussels, and I am afraid for what these may mean for the future, for my future.  I wonder where God is in this midst of this.
  What Scripture tells me is that throughout the centuries, God responds to evil and calls his followers to respond to evil with love.  This is a hard call, but God is continuously reminding me that he will triumph in the end, that the vile hatred of evil shall not defeat joy and hope.  Evil is a dead end street -- when we choose it, we find darkness and shadows and boarded up windows ushering us deeper, reinforcing our fear and blinding our eyes to the light that can lead us out of it.
  I don't believe it is easy to choose hope and love in this world, but I do believe that God calls us to endure the struggle against evil and choose to display a spirit of hope and love, so that we can be in community and remind one another to remember the good gifts in our lives and to look to God, the perfect giver of such gifts, with gratitude in our hearts for the new birth we have in Christ, looking always to the reality that our life in Christ will one day transcend death and enter eternity.

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