A Response to the Fort Hood and Orlando Shootings
We live in a world where aggression is executed against innocent people. Some have labeled the shooting at Fort Hood, TX an act of war and the shooting in Orlando a tragedy. While both may be true there is something more tragic and more frightening going on here. Western civilization defines peace as the absence of war or the absence of strife. We have come to see peace as a time when everything is going right for us. The United States has enjoyed many years of “Western” peace. Would we say that now is a time of peace? The Bible has something different to say about peace. Scripturally, peace is not the absence of strife, but the presence of faith and hope in the midst of it. For us, peace is external. Scripturally, peace is internal.
It is normal to feel apprehension because of these recent acts of evil, but God’s intention for us is that we also feel at peace knowing that He is bigger than any act of evil or even evil itself. Our hearts swell with love and concern for the families whose sons and daughters were cut down in acts of cowardice. Our walk from the doorway to the car may be more cautious than in years past, but God is sovereign. If we have faith that Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, and sits at the right hand of the Father, acts of evil have no power over us. They can only kill our body. They cannot touch our soul!
Places that were once considered safe are less safe, but faith, hope, and love remain. No amount of terrorism or evil can take away the fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23). I am confident “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). I offer you no great wisdom that will end such senseless acts of terror. All I have to offer you is the knowledge that God loves you. If you believe in Him, there is nothing to fear. There is only the great expectation that one day we will walk with Him free of terror and strife. On that day we will know what peace really is.
Your servant,
Pastor John