We just celebrated God's message of love on Palm Sunday and Easter. And what a life changing message that is. God sent His only Son to earth as a baby who grew to be our Savior, half human and half spiritually grown man. And then He voluntarily let Himself be crucified to wipe away our sins. A crucial, painful, horrible death. Hands and feet nailed to a tree, body stretched so that breathing was excruciating and death coming slowly over terrorizing agony. Because of God's incredible love, Jesus died for us. He took our sin upon Him and fully forgave us so that we will live with God in Heaven. All we need to do is surrender our lives to Jesus, believe in Him and follow Him. God is Love.
Last weekend we witnessed results of purposeful evil, slaughtering thousands of innocent civilians in the city of Mariupol, Ukraine. As we watched the TV reports we were horrified to see bodies strewn on the streets, bodies thrown into trenches, hearing reports of beheadings, civilians shot with their hands tied behind their backs.....and we wonder. If God brought all this love to us through Jesus, why are people acting in evil ways? When you look at history, when have we known perfect peace in our world? Why is war, strife and evil in our world today? When we hear details of Russia's Putin, and how he indiscriminately makes war decisions to purposely kill thousands of innocent Ukrainians, we wonder how can a man be so evil. Putin is Evil.
That is the battle between love and evil. The battle has been going on for years...from the moment Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, continuing even now. Our hearts cry out for love but evil tries to silence us. In the meantime, we should help those in need, those who suffer from ruthless, evil warfare and help them to return to their country which they treasure and honor.
Yes, I'm talking about the Ukraine and its people. Are we doing everything to help them in their fight against Russia? All the pictures I have seen of Ukraine before the horrible bombings show a country with attractive buildings, classical architecture, well cared for property and homes. The Russian bombings have devastated Ukraine, cities and homes must be rebuilt. People have lost all they have and they need financial assistance. Who is going to help them? Not only is much of Ukraine already devastated, but Russia, under Putin's leadership, has placed an evil general to continue the devastation, so Ukraine will be suffering even more. But if we honor our Lord by reaching out to people with love we have obeyed God. Unfortunately, we are unable to make detailed decisions on a global nature but we can certainly send our messages to people in government. Since the United States is the most powerful nation in the world, we can let our government know we need to help the small country of Ukraine with love.
Remember how we watched thousands of citizens of Ukraine gathering at train stations and bus stations, with their families of innocent babies and frightened young children pushing their belongings in small suitcases? I remember thinking, why don't they take more clothes with them? And then, a week or so later, their homes and apartments bombed out of existence. Just think how those innocents felt about not only losing their life long possessions, but losing their tangible memories too.
One powerful result of watching the Ukraine tragedy is that it made me so thankful that I was born in this great free country of ours. Born here, raised here, living here where I and my family are safe and secure makes me thank God. How can we live in such safety and ignore the evil? Let us conquer evil by reaching out in love.
Ukraine is not the only place that needs our love. Unfortunately, our world has continually been in the throes of evil governments and evil rulers. The United States of America built our country on freedom. Let us never forget the liberty we have and pour love on those who are suffering from evil.
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