About
standing in the shadow of the cross during man's inhumanity to man…
Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord
is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has
sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the
blind, to release the oppressed, (NIV)
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent
me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (KJV)
In
times of tragedy and man's inhumanity to man, one could conclude God does not
exist. If God existed, how could He ever permit the countless tragedies and
incidents of inhumanity to go on? Why
doesn’t God stop tragedies? Why doesn’t God stop the inhumanity of man
against man? There is never a good answer to these questions. Sorting through
all the ways of God, one answer a searcher would find is that God wants us to be
free. Unfortunately, in our freedom we commit horrible and grievous sins against
each other. In the freedom granted to the creation God made, evil has an
opportunity to flourish and grow. In the freedom granted to the creation God
made, Satan has a chance to take lives of young and old, of all races of people,
in all places and at all times. Is freedom that precious to God? Yes, freedom is
that precious. In one respect, God not only freed His people from slavery under
Pharaoh, God freed you from the slavery of sin. In another respect, God did not
force His people out of
Egypt
and God does not force anyone to accept the freedom from sin offered to us by
Christ. God does more than just offer freedom. In times of tragedy and
inhumanity, God offers love. Unimaginable in human terms, God offers love to the
most inhumane human being. Unimaginable in human terms, God offered His only Son
for us, even when we do inhumane things to each other or even if we just think
about doing inhumane things to each other. The shadow of the cross hangs over
all humanity as Christ calls us to save the lives of those threatened by
inhumane acts, to love, to live in peace, and to
forgive…forgiving even acts of inhumanity...in our freedom from the slavery of
sin.
