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.

Protect Your Mind!

And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people. 

~Romans 16:17-18

Did you know that there are people who are divisive?  We see it every single day.  The divisive people are usually those who are too cowardly to step into the light of view and debate.  They choose to cast stones from the shadows without regard to who will be hurt by their words. Divisive people stir up trouble and seem to enjoy the chaos, again because they do so from the shadows.  

The Apostle Paul reminds us to be wary of those who seek to be divisive!  Yet over and over we see such people who will mindlessly follow simply because the rhetoric is the latest popular thing, or because they just want to be "part of change," or some other excuse that deflects the responsibility to THINK away from themselves.  Remember the excuse: "Well, every one else is doing it!"  Does that make it right. 

Jesus reminds us "And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak" (Matthew 12:36). Therefore, we must be careful what we say and what we think.  Because for most of us, what's in our mind is going to come out of our mouth (and God WILL hold us accountable).

Solomon wrote in his Proverbs: "Guard your heart [and mind] above all else, for it determines the course of your life" (Proverbs 4:23).  So how do we put a guard on our hearts and minds?  How do we keep from becoming a casualty of the divisive person's bombs?  Allow me to give you some very practical counsel:

     *  If a statement is 99.99999% true and 0.00001% false, it is a LIE!  Don't let the lies into your mind!  If that means you have to stop reading their words or stop listening their words or even remove yourself from them, DO IT!  Better to walk away than become a casualty!

     *  Remember that YOU control what you let into your heart and mind! Be selective!  Be careful!

     *  People will say whatever they want about you for whatever reason they want and there's little you can do to stop them.  BUT....YOU control how you choose to react to them.

  

Perhaps the best counsel I have found comes from Paul's letter to the Philippian church (Chapter 4 Verse 8):

 Finally, brothers and sisters, 

whatever is true, 

whatever is worthy of respect, 

whatever is just, 

whatever is pure,

 whatever is lovely, 

whatever is commendable, 

if something is excellent or praiseworthy, 

THINK ON THESE THINGS.

We are bombarded with lots of garbage every day, but WE get to decide what we let into our minds.  If it's not building you up and making you better, then it's not worth your time to think about!