Saturday Sermonette--To Everything a Season, Part 4

To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:

. . . . A time to kill, And a time to heal; (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3a)

After each war the US has been in, the US helps rebuild that country. In just my lifetime, there's been Germany, Japan, Italy, Iraq and a few others. That's carrying "a time to kill, and a time to heal" to its best conclusion. I pray, though, for a time when there's no more killing.

 

I hate war. Every person killed is someone's child, someone's spouse, someone's sweetheart. Every person is someone loved by God. Sounds impossible, you say. How can God love a terrorist?

 

I don't know, honestly. It's beyond me. But then--it's beyond me how He can love me sometimes. All I know for sure is that He can and He does.

 

A time to kill. Is there ever justification for killing? Rarely. In defense of family--yes. In defense of property? Is a piece of land more valuable than a life?

 

Something happens to a person when they kill. Ask a person who's been in a war, a police officer who's fired a weapon, or a person who has driven a car that hit and killed someone. Then that person needs a time to heal. The exception might be the sociopath, but otherwise, it's a devastating, life-wrenching event.

 

A time to heal--to me wayyyyyy more important than the time to kill.

 

Father, please help us find reasons NOT to kill; but when it happens, I ask that You would pour Your healing love into the hurting heart. Thank You, Lord.