I’M SAD

I was deeply saddened by the news of another mass shooting this past week. This time, three grade school children and three staff members were gunned down at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee. One of the little girls was the daughter of the church pastor that sponsors the school. It was reported the pastor had previously counseled the 28- year-old shooter, a transgender person who had attended the school years earlier. There is nothing more heartbreaking than the tragic death of a child. Every parent, grandparent, and caring person in America grieves this tragedy.

Therefore, if we are grieved, consider how much more this kind of evil grieves God. Jesus loved little children. He welcomed them into His arms, gathered them into His lap, and said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Luke 18:16). And he issued a warning to those who would harm children, “…it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18:6).

Jesus also loves people who struggle with gender dysphoria. We live in a fallen world., contaminated by the virus of sin. As a result, people battle all types of demons. Those who are uncertain of their gender are emotionally and spiritually disoriented.

Richard Nelson, Director of the Commonwealth Policy Center, wrote, “In the past, medical professionals advised that when there is a medical incongruency with the body, it is the mind that should change. For example, people with anorexia, believing themselves to be overweight, were told that wasn’t true. So counselors and psychiatrists worked to bring their patient’s minds into accord with the reality of their bodies. Any less counsel would threaten their well-being. Why would we treat a fellow human being suffering from gender-dysphoria any differently? Instead of recommending hormones or surgical reconstruction, why not address the mental incongruency of minors and help counsel them to accept their biological reality?”

Indeed. Those of us who really care about them should recognize they desperately need God’s help, love, and wisdom, not trendy, emotionally based counsel that further wounds and mutilates.

I’M MAD

I am also mad. And because the Bible instructs us to “Be angry and sin not,” I am trying to refrain from reacting in ways that create more divisiveness. However, the Bible also teaches us to love what is good and hate what is evil. Therefore, if Christians have not become righteously indignant about the evil consuming our country, we lack character. One cannot profess anger about the violence perpetrated against children while ignoring their mass killings from abortion or their emotional destruction and mutilation at the hands of immoral doctors and counselors.

I am also angry at the many preachers and evangelical leaders who lack the moral courage to speak against such wickedness. They would be wise to consider the words of the Lord in Jeremiah 23: “’Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!’ declares the Lord” (verse 1). “But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds” (verse 22).

I’M GLAD

Selah Rose Russell

Despite the chaos, sadness, and evil in our world, I am thankful we can still find moments to rejoice. Solomon wrote that there is a time to weep and a time to laugh. Sometimes those emotions are simultaneous. This was the case for the Russell family this past week when my second great-grandchild was born. Selah Rose Russell entered the world last Friday after her mother, Rebecca, spent 50 hours in labor. Selah was nine pounds, nine ounces! “Selah” is a Bible word meaning “pause’ or “rest.” The prolonged and painful delivery was definitely not “restful” for Rebecca or the expectant father, our grandson Tommy. But we are all rejoicing that Rebecca and Selah are now recovering and resting at home.

Nothing is more precious than the birth of a baby, and that gives us reason to rejoice even amid our grief. It is easy for a great-grandfather to be thrilled when a new baby is born into his family. However, with every new child, there are additional responsibilities.

And as children mature, they continue to need our love, our instruction, and our protection. Jesus had no tolerance for those who threatened the well-being of children. We shouldn’t either.

“Anyone does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).

New dad Tommy Russell with Selah

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