i found it a really sad commentary on our culture when i read the news that people were protesting the local burial of the Boston marathon bomber. yeah he did a terrible thing. true he tried to kill hundreds of people there in Boston.
but he's still a human being, and believe it or not, GOD STILL LOVED HIM just as much as He loves each of us!
that's right. God loved Tamerlan Tsarnaev. He didn't just like him. and He certainly didn't hate him. He created him and loved him and desired that he would come to know Jesus.
then i read the news story about a Bostonian man who offered his own burial plot as a place for Tamerlan to be buried. what a breath of fresh air! he did it in the name of Christianity, which was extra-fresh air.
and i heard that other people along the way had also offered burial plots. now that is how humans should treat other humans!
(i'm sad to say, it's over and above what i would even find myself doing. if all the drama had happened where i live, and if i had a burial plot in the first place, i'm pretty certain that it wouldn't even occur to me to offer it to him.)
it is a natural human response, when someone does something heinous, to despise that person, to hate them and want them dead, and when they do die, to rejoice and continue trying to punish them even after they're dead.
that's what happened with people like Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden when they died.
but it's WRONG.
Jesus said it plain as day in Matthew 5:43-45:
"'You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.'"
if we profess to be followers of God, we will love our enemies, because that's what He did.
think about it. YOU were God's enemy! and if you don't believe in Jesus as your Savior, you are still God's enemy!
do you really understand that? if there were a big universal battlefield, you are either standing with Jesus on God's side, or you are His mortal enemy, standing on Satan's side......... the enemy.
and when you were still standing on the enemy side, God came to YOU and gave His life for YOU so that YOU could be saved and join Him on the other side.
why would God tell us to do such a thing - love our enemies?
looking at His example, He did it so that we would be drawn to Him and learn to love Him back. and His desire is that ALL humans would be saved from eternal suffering and become friends with Him. so, if He has that desire and He has us as followers, it makes sense that He would want to train us to reach the rest of the world the way He did. and humans respond best to love. especially when love is offered freely and 'just because'.
think of stories you see on the news, or read about in books, or hear about in songs. the stories that amaze us and wrench our hearts are those where someone gives themselves unabashedly for the other.
in our hearts, we desire to be the object of this type of love. it's a love that is not conditional. it's a love that gives all. it's the love that God showed to us, but that we find exceedingly difficult or impossible to show to others.
and it is difficult, it is impossible - if we try to use our own power to do it.
but that's what makes Christianity stand out. God lives in true Christians and it is by HIS power (and His power ONLY) that we can love others, even and especially enemies. as my pastor said last week, people are often unloving, unlovely, and unlovable, so we have to borrow love from God. He has a deep, gushing, luscious well of love, when ours is a grimy, muddy, and boggy puddle.
and THAT love is what will change the world. THAT love is what can make an enemy a friend, can turn hearts from evil to good, can save people from staying on Satan's side of the battlefield.
the response that Christians should have for those who die while they're still in Satan's army should be grief and regret, not rejoicing! Christ died for Tamerlan, and for Jeffrey Dahmer, and for Hitler, and for Stalin, and for bin Laden, the same way He died for you and me.
and as it turns out, there will be a battle between God and His enemies at the end of time. (Revelation 16:14-16 & 19:19-21)
whose side are you on?
the Boston controversy: http://news.yahoo.com/uncle-arranging-boston-bomb-suspects-burial-rites-163554313.html
Yale grad offers his own plot: http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-offers-burial-plot-for-tamerlan-tsarnaev-after-body-is-refused-everywhere-95502/
finally buried: http://news.yahoo.com/police-dead-boston-bombing-suspect-buried-141202538.html
Aurora, CO, sacrifice: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/aurora-shooting-died-bullets-sweeties-article-1.1119395
but he's still a human being, and believe it or not, GOD STILL LOVED HIM just as much as He loves each of us!
that's right. God loved Tamerlan Tsarnaev. He didn't just like him. and He certainly didn't hate him. He created him and loved him and desired that he would come to know Jesus.
then i read the news story about a Bostonian man who offered his own burial plot as a place for Tamerlan to be buried. what a breath of fresh air! he did it in the name of Christianity, which was extra-fresh air.
and i heard that other people along the way had also offered burial plots. now that is how humans should treat other humans!
(i'm sad to say, it's over and above what i would even find myself doing. if all the drama had happened where i live, and if i had a burial plot in the first place, i'm pretty certain that it wouldn't even occur to me to offer it to him.)
it is a natural human response, when someone does something heinous, to despise that person, to hate them and want them dead, and when they do die, to rejoice and continue trying to punish them even after they're dead.
that's what happened with people like Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden when they died.
but it's WRONG.
Jesus said it plain as day in Matthew 5:43-45:
"'You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.'"
if we profess to be followers of God, we will love our enemies, because that's what He did.
think about it. YOU were God's enemy! and if you don't believe in Jesus as your Savior, you are still God's enemy!
do you really understand that? if there were a big universal battlefield, you are either standing with Jesus on God's side, or you are His mortal enemy, standing on Satan's side......... the enemy.
and when you were still standing on the enemy side, God came to YOU and gave His life for YOU so that YOU could be saved and join Him on the other side.
"Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man,
though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates His own love for us in this:
while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:7-8
why would God tell us to do such a thing - love our enemies?
looking at His example, He did it so that we would be drawn to Him and learn to love Him back. and His desire is that ALL humans would be saved from eternal suffering and become friends with Him. so, if He has that desire and He has us as followers, it makes sense that He would want to train us to reach the rest of the world the way He did. and humans respond best to love. especially when love is offered freely and 'just because'.
think of stories you see on the news, or read about in books, or hear about in songs. the stories that amaze us and wrench our hearts are those where someone gives themselves unabashedly for the other.
- during the Aurora, Colorado, shooting, 3 men used their bodies as shields to save lives and died in the process.
- books that survive time, like Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, are full of unrequited and self-sacrificial love.
- Bruno Mars sings 'I'd catch a grenade for you,' while the girl clearly is not as committed to him.
in our hearts, we desire to be the object of this type of love. it's a love that is not conditional. it's a love that gives all. it's the love that God showed to us, but that we find exceedingly difficult or impossible to show to others.
and it is difficult, it is impossible - if we try to use our own power to do it.
but that's what makes Christianity stand out. God lives in true Christians and it is by HIS power (and His power ONLY) that we can love others, even and especially enemies. as my pastor said last week, people are often unloving, unlovely, and unlovable, so we have to borrow love from God. He has a deep, gushing, luscious well of love, when ours is a grimy, muddy, and boggy puddle.
and THAT love is what will change the world. THAT love is what can make an enemy a friend, can turn hearts from evil to good, can save people from staying on Satan's side of the battlefield.
the response that Christians should have for those who die while they're still in Satan's army should be grief and regret, not rejoicing! Christ died for Tamerlan, and for Jeffrey Dahmer, and for Hitler, and for Stalin, and for bin Laden, the same way He died for you and me.
and as it turns out, there will be a battle between God and His enemies at the end of time. (Revelation 16:14-16 & 19:19-21)
whose side are you on?
the Boston controversy: http://news.yahoo.com/uncle-arranging-boston-bomb-suspects-burial-rites-163554313.html
Yale grad offers his own plot: http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-offers-burial-plot-for-tamerlan-tsarnaev-after-body-is-refused-everywhere-95502/
finally buried: http://news.yahoo.com/police-dead-boston-bombing-suspect-buried-141202538.html
Aurora, CO, sacrifice: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/aurora-shooting-died-bullets-sweeties-article-1.1119395
