On Wednesday night June 17, 2015 at about 830pm eastern time a young white man decided to go to bible study at the predominantly black Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina. For reasons not yet known he proceeded to open fire on the congregation resulting in 9 members being killed including the pastor and dozens more injured. This has been weighing pretty heavily on my heart because I am an AME and we were, like most AME churches, also in church on Wednesday night and that could have very well been us.
In light of the fact that unfortunately racism is still very much alive in our country this could very well be something that changes how we interact with each other. This horrible and disgusting hate crime has everyone in an uproar and I believe that It is important that we remember that God is in control. No matter how the shooter is dealt with, God is in control. Romans 12:19 says:
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
As angry as we may be about this, it truly is not up to us to decide this young boy’s punishment. God will take care of him. It is up to us as the body of Christ to let God be the boss and not be afraid to stand on His word.
God told us to love our enemies (Matt.5:44) and while most of the time we can say oh that’s not a problem they aren’t bothering me right now, it becomes an entirely different song when they do something. As Christians we are a shining example of Christ in this world, we are not perfect but we should strive daily to be like Him. This world doesn’t need anymore stones thrown we need more lines drawn it the sand (John 8:7). God still loves us in our sin so we should extend the same grace to others. This doesn’t mean to just let him go and hope for the best, it means that despite what the justice system does or does not do that we trust and believe that God will deal with it in His own time.
What I am saying overall is that we spend some time in prayer for both the shooter as well as the victims and their families. Then we need to pray that God help us to love those that hate us. 💜💛💜💛
