Like most Americans, I am extremely saddened, sickened and angry every time an act of murderous violence is committed. I feel for the many parents that have been left without their children, husbands and wives that have been deprived of their life partners, and also, I am frustrated and angry for the many innocents whose lives have been brutally taken. It breaks my heart to see so much pain and despair. I pray for all those that have lost loved ones in the past few weeks, as only “the God of all comfort” is able to soothe their emotional pain and bring peace to their hearts. Prayer is certainly the best thing we can do as Christians.
We also need to pray for our country. Incidents of mass violence are becoming too common in the USA. It’s not that before there were not acts of violence. We know that violence has been with us since the beginning of humanity, as it is closely related to unregenerated human nature. It is just that crimes on this scale did not take place in our country with this pattern, with this repetition in the past. On May 14 of this year, a young man killed ten people in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Ten days later, on May 24 another deranged young man murdered 21 people, including 19 children. Again, 8 days later, on June 1, a gunman killed 4 people in a medical facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and then committed suicide. In the same week, on June 4, there were shootings in Philadelphia, PA, and Chattanooga, TN resulting in a total of 6 people killed and 25 injured.
As it has happened repeatedly in the past decade, there is a lot of talks about what to do to change this pattern of tragedies. I would venture to say that most Americans would agree that we, as a society, need to do something about it. This is not about political issues, or party agendas. This is about preserving and protecting the lives of people. Some people are skeptical with the traditional answers to this problem. But its better to do something than not do anything. And it probably requires a joint effort from different fronts, including mental health and religion. We all, as a society, need to be involved in one way or another.
All these efforts, nonetheless, aim at the symptoms, not the cause. There is a spiritual component to all the violence in our country and the world that we must not ignore. The Bible says that the problem lies in the hearts of mankind. Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” (Matthew 15: 19). James expands the same idea, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.” (James 4: 1-2). As someone said, “the problem of the heart is the heart of the problem.”
Thankfully, we don’t have to remain with this heart problem. God offers humanity the hope of a new heart. Almost three thousand years ago God promised, through the prophet Ezekiel, that He would give humanity “a new heart” and “a new spirit”. Then He said, “I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26-27). In other words, this change of heart is only possible through the Holy Spirit of God working inside of us. He replaces our evil hearts with a new heart that is willing and able to live by His commandments. This is how the Apostle Paul explains it:
“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3: 3-7).
Yes, we Christians can do our part in the war against violence. We can pray. Additionally, we can be proactive explaining why the world’s main problem is a God problem. The rejection of God and his values is at the core of violence. Ours, for the most part is a Godless world, and we have paid a heavy price. We all, also, can share the gospel of Christ with our neighbors and relatives. The answer to our decayed society is a change of heart. Only the redemptive message of God can bring about such change in society, one person at a time.
This is why I am committed to the vision of World Christian Broadcasting of sharing the message of hope in Jesus with countless people around the world. Every morning, I wake up energized by the thought that God would use our programming to bring about change in the lives of potentially millions of people. In this violent world of ours, our only hope is the Prince of peace.
Categories: SPANISH
