‘Good Out of Place’
I Was Thinking…
It was Dr. Fred Craddock, the great teacher of preachers, who described sin as “good out of place”. Pharmaceuticals are intended for our improved health…abuse pharmaceuticals and our health will deteriorate with potential death…’good out of place’. Our bodies are created in God’s image and are a ‘temple’ of the Holy Spirit…pornography turns our bodies into objects for selfish pleasure…’good out of place’. Take any good thing and abuse it or misuse it and it is ‘out of place’ with sin lurking nearby.
I am at a loss for words with regards to the ‘mass-shootings’ of the past week. I think of the mother and child shopping for school supplies at the Walmart near El Paso, Texas. Or the teenagers shopping for make-up at the cosmetic counter. Or the husband and father, running in for a quick bag of charcoal for a weekend cook-out. And then, I think of a 21-year-old from north of Dallas, Texas who decides he’s going to do something about the immigration problem…and enters with a magazine full assault rifle…emptying it randomly injuring and killing Walmart shoppers. I don’t know what to say or think…so I just weep deep in my soul.
I am a hunter and fisherman who loves the outdoors. I own my share of guns. I have multiple memories with family both as a son and as a father and grandfather participating in the stewardship of wildlife. But guns in the wrong hands…’good out of place’…and the rotten fruit of sin lurks nearby. I am still dumbfounded at a rational explanation why anyone outside of our military and police needs an Assault Weapon. Why does any hunter need a rifle with an overabundant magazine of ammo? There is no reason…none whatsoever.
Why is gun control such an issue in this county only? We have become a country of mass-shootings…We have become a country of fear and that fear has led us to a place of violence and hatred. We are a country of racism that seeks to isolate rather than embrace those unlike us. We are becoming a country that is ‘good out of place’.
I wonder what God thinks about all this…I think God’s heart is breaking. And I think those of us who are God’s children need to stand up and be counted. Political correctness is killing our children and grandchildren. Political correctness is turning our ‘e pluribus unum’ hospitality into a ‘no vacancy’ hostility…’good out of place’.
We may not personally know a single person killed or injured in El Paso or Dayton…but they were people just like you and me shopping and going about life in a normal way when ‘good out of place’ stopped them ’dead in their tracks’. And I’m mad as hell about it! How about you?
“…though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 1:18-20, NRSV)
Always Thinking…
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