Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Strength and Compassion”
Our Bible verse for today: “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” 1 Peter 3:9 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “Bless those who curse you.”
On Wednesday June 17th, at approximately 8:00 PM, a mentally disturbed twenty-one year old white man by the name of Dylann Roof entered a prayer meeting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The members of the all-black congregation welcomed him and invited him to participate in their prayer meeting and Bible study.
For almost an hour he sat quietly in the back pew watching and listening, not saying anything. Then around 9:00 he got up, pulled out a loaded handgun, and proceeded to murder the Pastor and eight other church members. As he was doing so he reportedly made racist remarks and accused blacks in general of “raping our women”.
It was a horrible tragedy that rocked our nation and took the lives of some very good people. Two days later, after Roof had been captured and appeared in court to be arraigned, members of the church were present in the courtroom and they were allowed to speak to the murderer. What they said shocked many people.
Instead of angrily condemning him or tearfully accusing him of his vile crimes, the members of the church said “Dylann we forgive you.” “We’re praying for you.” “We’re asking God to bless your family.” “Jesus loves you Dylann”.
Yes, they spoke words of forgiveness and blessing upon the one who had inflicted so much pain and heartache upon them. It’s not what anyone expected and it grabbed a lot of people’s attention. In fact, their response was the lead story in television news casts across the country and it was the front page headline in many newspapers.
This is the kind of thing Peter was calling for in 1 Peter 3:9. It’s what he also wrote about a few paragraphs earlier in 1 Peter 2:12, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though you accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
During his murderous rant Dylann had wrongly accused the people of “raping our women”. The people in that church of course had done no such thing. He wrongly accused them; he visited great evil upon them; but they responded to him with forgiveness and blessings. And their response brought glory to God.
It’s not easy to respond the way those church members did. It takes extraordinary spiritual strength and a highly developed sense of compassion to speak and act like that in the midst of your own pain and despair. Where does that ability come from? It comes from the Holy Spirit. It’s the fruit of a mature faith. It comes from lots of prayer and from a refusal to harbor bitterness or hatred. And it comes from a willingness to let God be the Judge.
That kind of strength and compassion is extraordinary and in fact, it is other-worldly. But it’s what God calls for from us and it is what the Holy Spirit empowers us to do if we only will.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 