Why can’t they see that their behavior is destructive and will hurt themselves and others?! What good does it do them to destroy their own city? Or why would you favor people who are your sworn enemies and betray a nation that is your ally? Why would you side with those who hate the idea of the nuclear family on which a healthy society rests? Have you ever said that as you watched the news? Do you know that Scripture explains why people can’t see that their behavior will have disastrous results? Understanding that the problem is a spiritual one, rather than a political one can help us deal with these times.
“But anyone who hates a brother or sister . . . Walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them.” 1 John 2:11
Many today are blinded by their hatred. So in view of the fact that folks can’t see reality because of their hatred, what are we to do? Hate them back? Of course not! As Martin Luther King said, we can’t fix hatred with more hatred, but with love. No matter what vitriol is thrown at us, we must not react in kind. We must display love by helping them in practical ways when we have opportunities. We must pray for them.
“Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. . . Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,
“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”
says the Lord. Deuteronomy 32:35
Instead,
“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap
burning coals of shame on their heads.” Proverbs 25:21-22
Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. Romans 12:14, 17-21
Another reason that reason has escaped many in our times is that they have rejected God. They refuse to acknowledge God as creator and ruler, and they refuse to be thankful to him. As a result, God abandons them to their own darkness.
“…people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools…
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.” Romans 1:20-22,28
So what do we do in the face of their staunch rejection of God? Try to convince them by clever arguments (or heated debates)? Yet we know that no one will be won over to God by arguing. No one will change their mind by being insulted. No one will be attracted to the message about Jesus by aggressive behavior. No one will want to get close to God if his people are bitter and angry. Instead, we must shine in this dark world with the love of God. This is beyond our human capacity. Only he can enable us to live up to his standard of love and not retaliate, retreat from, or disdain those in darkness. Instead, we must be loving and bold, brave and gentle.
One way to love boldly is being honest and telling those in darkness the truth so they can change. This must be done at the appropriate time and in a gentle way. Recently I had the opportunity to open a spiritual conversation with a friend of nearly ten years. This was the first time it seemed right for me to ask personal questions about his soul. He was in deep emotional pain and the loving thing to do was to offer him heart medicine. I could have been a coward and evaded his pain, but my boldness came from love for him. For his sake, I stepped out my comfort zone and broached a subject that had the potential for offense. But after so many years of friendship, he knew my motivation was genuine concern for him. Being an honest person, he was willing to explore the topic.
There will be times when we have been brave and have offered truth, but are rebuffed. This, too, calls for gentleness. Husband and I had this experience the other day. We were treating a business associate to lunch in a restaurant. We’re in the habit of thanking God for our food before eating. In public, we make it short, but we’re not ashamed to bow our heads. We offered to include her when we prayed, but she was quick and adamant in her rejection of our offer. We didn’t take offense. We were saddened to see her instant repulsion at the thought of prayer, but her response caused us to treat her especially lovingly and gently. She must have been hurt by religion at some point in her life so we must treat her extra considerately.
Since we know the causes of blindness, should we thank our lucky stars that we’re not blind, stick our noses in the air and sigh? In fact, what we’d better do is examine ourselves for those same causes of blindness. Do I hate anyone? Of course not. Or do I? I don’t hate anyone I know personally, but I’m sure tempted to hate leaders who use their power for evil causes. But if I harbor hatred, I’ll be blinded in that area because I won’t be walking in the light of God. Instead, I’ll be allowing darkness into my thinking and feelings. I’ll lose sight of God’s sovereignty and his working in the affairs of men. I’ll become angry and depressed when thinking about those leaders. How much better to pray about those people to an all-powerful God who judges rightly? I should pray for those people to turn to God before it’s too late. I shouldn’t speak hatefully about them to others. I shouldn’t dwell on their evil deeds. I should feel sorry for them because they are deceived and trapped in darkness.
If one cause of blindness is refusing to acknowledge and thank God, what areas of my life am I not inviting the Lord to direct? I know I can quickly shut the Lord out of my day by forgetting to talk to him or meditate on Scripture. Am I forgetting to thank him in the hard things? Am I taking his blessings for granted? Acknowledging and thanking him is done hour by hour. Since we so easily drift, let’s not be quick to condemn others, but examine ourselves in order to avoid our own blindspots.
“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4