“Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord.
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HIS WORD RIGHTS ALL OF OUR WRONGS
This passage remains branded upon my soul. In every word, decision, deed that I commit, I am compelled by this passage. It is my prayer and hope in every encounter with another person that this passage shapes every relationship that I have in my life.
Recently, we have had some break-ins at the church. The pantries and the kitchen have been vandalized but nothing more than snack-food has been stolen. In light of these break-ins, leaders of the church have been working to upgrade our security camera system. These new cameras record a live-feed and send the footage to cell phones.
While leaders from the church were installing the cameras in one of the pantries yesterday, a man walked up and stole some of the cameras that were lying on the picnic table. Unbeknownst to him, he recorded himself taking the cameras without permission. Leaders from the church began circulating the footage to try and track down the stolen cameras. About an hour later, I saw his car riding down one of our streets. I approached the car and confronted the man about the stolen cameras. The driver admitted to having taken the cameras, but was unwilling to get out of the car to further discuss the matter. The driver of the car eventually drove away without resolving the situation. While that conversation was taking place, two other leaders saw the conversation happening and made a plan to follow the car as it pulled away.
Just after the conversation in the street finished and the culprit pulled away, the other leader followed the man where he pulled up to a house outside the North Highland community. The church-leader approached the culprit and was told that the cameras had been sold to someone living in that house. The church leader then told him that the church would not press charges if he was willing to go into the house and reclaim the cameras and return them to the church. The culprit assured the church leader that he would and gave his identification card to the church leader as assurance that he would be true to his word.
Following that, most of the leaders involved gathered back at the church and prayed. We waited and with every passing minute, we realized the matter was out of our hands. We decided to bring our waiting to a close and pray, committing this violation to the Lord. We did not ask for the return of our cameras. We asked that the Lord take control of this situation, causing His greatness and name to be glorified. We asked the Lord’s reputation be honored in the life of our church. We asked that the Lord would avenge, according to His heart and character. We asked for His solution to manifest, not ours.
Due to that sense of being violated, I had an unsettling night. I continued to ask the Lord to honor His name in this matter and protect the Highland-Tribe, His people, throughout this occurrence.
Then, around 9am this morning, Megan called and told me the man who took the cameras called and he was in the church parking-lot, ready to return them. I left the house to go and meet him in the church parking-lot. As I was getting ready to walk down to meet him, Carrie told me: “Share Christ with him.” In my astonishment, I was glad she said that because it affirmed what the Holy Spirit was stirring in my heart. When I met the gentleman, he told me that he had been to our church and was also a veteran. We discussed the situation that took place yesterday and came to an understanding. He apologized for taking them and for causing us any heart-ache. I also told him that we are were not pressing charges, for which he was grateful. I then talked to him about Jesus - the one who forgives us our sin. He and I talked about Jesus the rest of the conversation and shared a long, tight embrace. I welcomed him back to our church and made sure that he knew to call us if he had a need arise. We then walked down the sidewalk together, sharing life.
Highland, the Lord remains to be our provider and our protector. In many ways, the passage above serves as our direction in how we are to conduct ourselves, as a church. Let us continue to put the agenda and heart of our Lord, first, in every matter. To do so, we must:
“Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.”
The Lord, alone, is just. Outside of His Word and His nature, justice cannot manifest because our pursuit of justice is tainted with sin. From within us, going after justice is an effort to gain an understanding so that we can vindicate our position to demand our rights for the purposes of accusing others and having our personal glory.
As the Lord, Himself, is just, we must surrender our positions, surrender our rights and abandon our efforts to accuse or judge others. In times of offense or violation, we have to sturdy our grip even more so upon His Word, so that the Lord’s righteousness pours forth through our lives. No matter how right we may think we are or how valid our positions may be,’ man’s anger will never accomplish God’s righteousness.’
I love you,
Rob