By: Mike Kelly, Retired Pastor
Bryan, Ohio
Why are we so angry? What happened to tolerance? What happened to patience? What happened to accepting people as they are? Why are we now allowed to let our thoughts turn into words?
Before, we might think about something, but we had the restraint to keep it to ourselves. Not so much anymore. Somehow, we now feel liberated to speak into others’ lives without permission. To correct by sarcasm and volume. Rage seems to have replaced reason.
Life has become much more violence-oriented. We know the inner city is a violent place with shootings in many neighborhoods almost nightly. We hear of cars driving through crowds.
Of young people shooting teachers and students in suburban schools. We watch bombs and missiles landing in cities in the Middle East every time we turn on the TV. Violence surrounds us, and now we seem to be allowing it to enter into our own responses to situations.
We hear politicians tearing their colleagues apart at every opportunity. Where did honoring people and respecting people go? We listen to elected officials lying through their teeth, hoping we will believe them this time.
We see social media being overtaken by bots and AI. Now we can even see people talking clearly on topics, only to discover that it was AI and not the real person. We have foreign countries trying to overthrow our elections. Not to mention taking over our computers for ransom.
I think we are afraid. I think we have given up on the optimism that allows us to think better of others until proven otherwise. I think our efforts to protect ourselves lead to needing control, to struggle with those currently in power.
We somehow want to control our environment, and that means attacking anyone who tries to disturb our peace. Before, when we heard someone say things we disagreed with, we’d begin a dialogue. We’d attempt to change their thinking by reason.
Now, we yell and scream, which are not effective tools in discussions. Now we have no room for common ground. We’ve suddenly become color blind. Everything must be black or white, as if there were no greys, reds, blues…and I get to determine what is right and what is wrong!
Only God operates in black and white. He knows moral right and wrong because he wrote the playbook. As humans, we need to leave room in our discussions with others for a change of mind.
For a different and maybe even better understanding of a situation, maybe we ought to work on being patient. When it comes to our opinion, let us have the maturity to say, “Maybe there is another way of looking at this.”
What would happen to our arguments if each side quickly said, “What does God say about this?” Would our rage defuse if we really both began to look at the Scripture through honest, seeking eyes?
What if our attitude changed from “It’s all about me and what I want and when I want it,” to what Jesus said in Matt 7:12: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Did you get that, “in everything?”
That’s a pretty broad statement. In every discussion, in every argument, in every interaction with someone else, do to them or say to them what you would want them to say to you or your mother or your daughter, or your spouse. Think about that before you let loose the anger, or more correctly, before you give in to fear and react.
Just because it seems okay by society to treat others with disrespect, why should we go along with it? Especially as Believers, shouldn’t we be the ones holding the light of truth and respect up for all to see?
God calls us to be mediators between Himself and man. We’re the ones who are supposed to reconcile the lost world to Jesus Christ. How can we represent God as his ambassadors and draw the lost to Him if we are busy knocking people down, or shouting them down, or holding them down?
Ask yourself: How can I redeem a lost and angry world?
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.