*Bad News: You are a sinner.
*Bad News gets even worse: Sinners deserve to die, to be separated from God forever.
*Good News: God loves you and doesn't want you to die, so He sent His only Son Jesus to die in your place.
*Good News gets even better: If you accept Jesus' free gift of salvation, you have eternal life.
Nice and simple, to the point.
This morning as I watched the morning news I was reminded of this basic evangelism outline. The TODAY show was doing a story about the trial of a man who had kidnapped, raped, and strangled a little 7-year old girl who had been walking home from school. After he killed this innocent child, he dumped her in a garbage bin. To avoid the death penalty this man plead guilty to his crime. Thankfully, he will never have the chance of parole; he will die in prison. The only comfort this provided the mother was that this "monster," as her family refers to him, will never be able to hurt another child again. So, in a way, justice has been served.
My first thought was that this man should pay for his crime. Not only that, he should suffer and experience the pain and grief he inflicted on this helpless precious little girl. I have a very severe solution for anyone who commits rape to ensure beyond a shadow of doubt that they would never be able to do such a horrific thing again. After that "procedure" was complete, I would want this man to go through the exact things that he did to this innocent child. I think he should die in the same way he took her life. After all the Bible clear teaches, "eye for eye" and "tooth for tooth." This, in my mind, would mean that justice had been served, fully.
However, I couldn't help but think that I shouldn't feel this way, that I was being too harsh and cruel in my response to this man's crime. Shouldn't I, as a Christian, be moved to pray for this man's salvation, desiring God to change his heart more than I long to see him suffer and die? Who am I to judge this man and decide how he should be punished for his sin? After all, I too am a sinner, deserving of death. No, I haven't committed murder or any such grievous act. But, in God's eyes, all sin is equal. His holiness can no more stand a "little white lie" than it can the killing of an innocent child.
The only reason I haven't been given the death penalty, or life in prison without the chance of parole, is because of God's grace. That Jesus bled and died for me is a gift I certainly don't deserve. I didn't earn my salvation; it was given to me freely. God mercifully chose to love and forgive me, to invite me to join His family, and to treat me as His precious child. That He has granted me the privilege of living with Him for all eternity is the epitome of good news. Really, it can't get any better than that!
And so, I am left broken, wondering what to do with all these emotions running rampant inside me today. I am sicken by the terrible things that are going on in this world. Just after the story of this man, I saw an update about a 15 year-old girl who had been sentenced to life in prison for murdering a younger girl. The teenager's reason for committing such a terrible crime: she wanted to see what it felt like to kill someone! How am I supposed to keep my precious little girls safe in a world like this? What can I do to protect them from harm, short of never letting them leave the house? And even then...there have been too many reports of children taken from their homes in the past six months. Oh Jesus, please look out for my girls. You are their only chance!
Matt Lauer was interviewing the little girl's mother and asked how she was helping her other children to deal with what had happened to their sister. He mentioned that we tell our kids, "There is no such thing as monsters." Yet, this family refers to the man who kidnapped, raped, and murdered their little girl a monster. And rightly so, in my mind at least. What would possess someone to do something so horrific to an innocent child?! He asked how parents should teach their kids about the reality of this kind of monster. I would certainly like to know. How do I go about that? How do I train my children to recognize danger and flee from it, or if need be fight for their lives? But at the same time, keep them innocent and care-free, as children should be. How do I teach them to be on the look-out for danger and yet keep them from becoming paranoid, looking at every person we see as a potential kidnapper or serial killer? How do I enable them to be, as the Bible says, "wise as serpents, but innocent as doves?"
I don't know. I wish I did. More than that, I wish I didn't have to know, that this world wasn't so wicked, for lack of a better word. Or that Jesus would return before my girls grow up and have to face the ever-growing evil of this world. All I do know, for absolute certain, after watching the news this morning is that I am overwhelming grateful for my own salvation, that I have been given the amazing gift of a relationship with Jesus Christ. I am more than thankful that my own death penalty has been replaced with the promise of eternal life. And after seeing all the bad news on TV, I am blown away by the good news of the gospel and God's boundless love for me, for all of us, even the worst of sinners.
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