Our Desperate Need

Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.

58 people shot in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend.

Iryna Zarutska in North Carolina.

Today, Evergreen High School in Colorado.

Charlie Kirk in Utah. 

It seems as though it is a never ending parade of people's lives being torn apart by violence. But at the same time, it seems as though we have become a culture desensitized to violence and cowed into complacency.

How else do you explain grown adults sitting on a train, doing nothing, watching as a young 23-year old immigrant has her throat slashed and bleeds out? 

This image of her looking up at her attacker with a look of shock and bewilderment has been burned into my brain. I make no apologies for posting this picture. If I have to see it when my eyes close at night, you get to see it, too. And perhaps we should keep it at the forefront of our minds. 

Iryna was the same age as my kids. That could have been my daughter. And that look of confusion as her life ebbs away will never stop haunting me. 

Then today, another school shooting. As of this writing, it appears no students were killed. But has it come to that--we consider it a good day as long as no kids are killed? 

Then, later in the day, a political assassination of a very public figure. In hindsight, I wish I had turned "Autoplay Video" off before I started scrolling through twitter looking for any news. That was a video I did not need to see. 

To top all of that off, tomorrow, September 11, we commemorate the 24th anniversary of the September 11 attacks and all the lives lost on that day. 

We're living in a society that decries "gun violence" yet glorifies it in our music and movies. There are people cheering gun violence tonight because it took the life of their political "foe." Much of our culture has no problem slaughtering innocent babies in the womb in the name of choice or career moves. We are living in a dark, dark world.

I was talking to someone today who said, "I am at a loss for words." Me too. I've been wrestling all week with this image of Iryna in my head. 

But here's the things.

Politics won't save us. I have watched over the last several presidential election cycles as Christians on both sides of the spectrum cheered as their candidate won, as though that would solve all their problems. Donald Trump is not the savior. Kamala Harris would not have been, either. The answer is not Democrat policy or the Republican policy. The answer is not more legislation or deportation or polarization. 

The answer is the Prince of Peace. 

@heathevans44 on Instagram put it very succinctly: 

"Agreement on policy saves no one. Agreement on Christ saves. Our unity isn't in a party; our unity is in the person of Jesus Christ." 

Yes, government is ordained by God (Romans 13), and we have been given the gift of a constitutional republic where we can choose our leaders. God works through government. 

But it is not the solution to the ills that plague our nation tonight. 

The answer is Jesus Christ. 

As Charlie Kirk put it,

Here on earth we're searching for peace. But peace is only found in Jesus. Earthly peace won't happen until He returns. But right now we can have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. This morning I posted Romans 5:1, not knowing what the day would bring. 

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

When we put our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only payment for our sins, God declares us to be righteous--justified. Because God declares us to righteous as His Son, we can have peace with Him. 

It doesn't mean all our earthly problems magically disappear. Jesus said in John 16:33,

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

We're living in perilous times. But be of good cheer.

I was brought to tears by what Charlie's wife, Erika, posted on X just a short time before losing her husband: 

Psalm 46 is such a comfort. Verse 2 says, "Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." 

Psalm 46 ends with this comfort: "Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

"Be still" carries the idea of rest. Sit still. Let God work. Find your peace in the Prince of Peace.

If you have never received Jesus' offer of eternal life, I've spelled it all out HERE. 

Let me leave you with this encouragement: 

Jesus defeated death so you can live. Find your peace in Him.