HOW CAN GOD STAND IT?

Dear friends,
    During the past week, Carol and I had the interior of our house painted, so we had to take everything off the walls. While putting my office back together, I hoisted up my world map, concentrating on just where it would go to be straight, stapled it firmly to the wall, and then stepped back to look at my work. Something wasn’t right. The world was in exactly the right place, but it was upside down!
    That may be a better example of our present reality than we think. The news this morning tells us of yet another tragic mass killing, but still our leaders won’t admit why it was done. Instead of blaming the shooter and his motives, they blame what he used to shoot. And despite ISIS publicly patting the shooter on the back, we are told not to blame Islam, because what happened is called anything else except what it is, another Islamic terrorist attack.
    Once again, Common Sense is buried under the ever-growing pile of PC words. It’s probably because the world is upside down.
    John Walsh, in a commercial, stands at the top of a fifty story building and says, “Wouldn’t it be nice if you could go through life without having to worry?” Then he jumps off the building and lands with his parachute in the middle of a street. He’s selling “Great Call”, a service that can track us and take our calls for distress at home, car or anywhere, at any time. Our own personal GPS will take away our worries!
    As if just knowing where we are will keep us safe, or help us make good decisions. But location isn’t our problem, nor is our lack of another gadget. Bullets aren’t the problem either, nor is a gay night club, nor even our refusal to deal with a warped view of an eastern religion.
    Our world is upside down because of mankind’s rebellion towards God. And it spawns ideas like there’s only one God with different names, and that notion that all roads lead to heaven. That that ain’t true, no matter who says it.
    Someone might wonder, “Where is God in all this tragedy?” Well, maybe He’s left us. After all, we’ve done a pretty good job of kicking Him out of government, school, morality and relationships. If we were treated as He is, would we want to stick around?
    It’s a really, really good thing that Jesus doesn’t pull the plug on us and walk away. Despite our refined human intelligence and our all-wise rulers, He’ll still be there forgiving our foolish sins, as well as our incredible cruelty and blind stupidity. I don’t know how He can do it. He said in John 6:37, “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”
   
Jesus doesn’t know when to quit, and I’m sure glad He doesn’t.

Rev. Bob Tasler
www.bobtasler.com