Hello, My Name Is Inigo Montoya...

You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.

Matthew 5:43-47 

I admit it, all these killings of late have made me extremely ticked off!  Why is it so intolerable for someone to want to destroy so many lives of worshipers?  Is it because they disagree with one groups ideology?  Is it because they simply have been taught to hate others because of their beliefs?  The more I thought about it, the angrier I became!  Then...I realized that I was so angry that I could not pray for anything other than revenge, because my hatred for the perpetrators of these crimes had become my focus.  Because they had become my focus, I had taken my focus off of God and replaced Him with blind anger and rage and desire for revenge.

When we focus on anything more than we focus on God, then we can no longer worship Him because we have replaced Him.  I had to spend a lot of time praying for God to cleanse me and forgive me for my anger and for replacing Him with my rage.  I had given these killers the position in my heart and soul they did not deserve!  I had allowed them to own my thoughts and they didn't deserve that!  

Jesus tells us to pray for our enemies and those who hurt us.  That sounds good when you are just reading it from a distance of the hurt.  But when you are in the midst of the hurt and anger, that becomes a daunting action.  Yet, God is the one who will judge, He didn't give me that position.  Hatred and anger and desiring revenge will only escalate the situations.  I am still bothered by the senseless violence, but I am learning to turn it over to God.  My time on this rock is temporary, I must focus on the eternal.