What can an honest person do when everything crumbles?
The LORD is sitting in his sacred temple on his throne in heaven. He knows everything we do because he sees us all.                                                            Psalm 11:3-4 (CEV)
What is there to say in the midst of war? What do I say to my friends who have been notified that their son or daughter has been killed in combat? Where will my eyes look when the next terrorist attack comes? Glued to the television or focused on the One who has the power to do something about every situation?
We have seen pictures and reel after reel of what war looks like. I was a teenager during the Viet Nam War. That was the first time that we watched war from our living rooms. Where is God? He is there when soldiers pray. He is there when they are baptized from a small bucket in the desert. He is there when they die just as He was there when Jesus died. God doesn’t sleep through war or turn His head away. He isn’t distracted by some other single incident and missing our concerns.
We as Christians have an opportunity to hold up God’s banners of truth, hope, compassion, power, and unconditional love. Whether it is family, friends, fellow members of our local church, co-workers, or even unknown people on the street, we are Christ’s ambassadors with opportunities to share God’s peace that does pass understanding through prayer, fellowship, and witnessing to the character of God.
God’s temple, His dwelling on earth is me. It’s you. We are His temple. We carry His light into the whole world. Jesus said to “Go into all the world”. Do I think that Jesus spoke carelessly and didn’t really mean all? I must lift my head out of my own little universe and see the opportunities that the Lord has placed in my path. I can do nothing without Him. Sharing that testimony in these uncertain days is being a conduit of God’s light — His lighthouse — in a world that would want me to believe that all is lost! Just before He died, Jesus said to His disciples and to me,
“I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand. The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn’t speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I have said that the Spirit takes my message and tells it to you…
I have told you this, so that you might have peace in your hearts because of me. While you are in the world, you will have to suffer. But cheer up! I have defeated the world.”      John 16:12-15, 33 (CEV)
As we pray each day, let us remember always to pray through to the victory that has already been won!
