Everyone Has a Soul Worth Saving
Be Strong, Be Well — Tuesday, June 2
It’s very disturbing to see rioting in the streets of our cities. It’s even more troublesome to think this violence has hijacked the underlying complaint of peaceful protesters.
How much our country needs the principles of God’s law. James admonished, “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (3:16-18).
We all remember what Jesus said. “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise” (Luke 6:31).
God condemns rioting, looting, physical harm, and disrespect for authority as sin and a crime against His law. The source of all this evil is the devil, the ruler of this world (John 12:31; Ephesians 6:12). People who allow themselves to be controlled by Satan’s influence stand condemned and will be punished—in this life or the next. (Ecclesiastes 12:14; Ephesians 2:2; Revelation 21:8).
Sometimes it’s hard for us to look behind the masks of these cowardly people, to look beyond the crimes they commit and the violence their victims endure, and see their soul.
Because of our prejudices, it’s hard for us to picture ourselves evangelizing violent, riotous people. We can be thankful we were not treated as hopeless by the Lord. Sin is sin, and any sin condemns without the blood of Christ to wash it away (1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Ephesians 2:4-5).
God doesn’t want us to count anyone out. He doesn’t ask us to go down into the streets filled with tear gas and preach to those holding bricks and guns. But if we start praying for these folks, maybe we’ll begin to look at our own neighbors in a different light. Everyone has a soul worth saving. —Chris