God,
I'm heartbroken by what I saw and heard in my education class today--the anger, malice, and hatred of things that are moral, honest, and good. It was hard to be in a large group that all agreed that striving for purity was stupid and parents who wanted to guard their children from the world should send them to private schools or home school. It brought tears to my eyes to think about the degree of hatred I saw in those faces against the things of You--things I treasure and love. I wanted to tell them all how blind they are, but I think You just wanted me to listen...and I did, and could not believe how lost I was and they still are. Blindly holding on to things they think are important and ignoring the voice inside that make them wonder if life is worth something more.
It is hard to see them love and embrace the darkness they are in. I heard them degrade parents who do not let their children read books for moral reasons. They clapped and cheered when someone said they support the separation of church and state because Jesus offends them. One girl raised her hand to explain how she gave a speech in high school that defended pornography, and went on to say that there was nothing wrong with it. Another student said his reason for not teaching or studying the Bible was because he felt that no matter how intelligent someone was, they could still become influenced by it...like people who are weak and uneducated are the only ones who read and need Your Word.
God, how can You see this and not turn Your face away? Are You not angry? You are so righteous and holy not worthy of the ridicule You receive. How much pain do You receive everyday? I mean this was one class--30 people--how can You stand a whole world against You? How can You love us that much?
Jesus, to be mocked, jeered, hated, and then to carry all the sin of the world and feel the emptiness when God turned His face away from You--what kind of love is this? It is beyond comprehension. Thank You. Grace, that covers all my sin, that brings me out of the dark and cleans me and puts me in the Light. Thank you for this reminder of how weak I am and how much I do need Your grace every moment. Father do not let me forget what You saved me from and how weak I am without You.
God, bring light into that class and those individual lives. Touch them and show them truth. Use me if you want to, let Your light shine through my broken life. Be my strength and my all, let my pride fall and my spirit submit to You completely. Use me, mold me, I give my life to You my Lord and King because without You, I am nothing.
"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecute Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me." -John 16:18-21
"For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man...therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever." -Romans 1:21-25
"When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."...And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him...the soldiers mocked Him." -Luke 23: 33-36
1 comment:
Your love of God is as obvious as the hate that some in the class have for God. I just had a question about the statement that seems to have started the whole conversation in your class.
"a large group that all agreed that striving for purity was stupid."
Am I correct to assume that you were talking about abstinence/sex education? Maybe I'm not, but many of the other purity issues with what parents and adults teach children are similar.
All I want to say about that is that purity and ignorance are not the same thing. One is good and the other is bad. Our goal as Christians with this one issue is for our kids to wait until marriage, right? Well its proven that abstinence education does a much worse job of deterring sex than education about birth control. The ignorant mind is pure until it encounters temptation. The informed mind has more of a chance to be stong.
You mentioned books also- and I agree that it's probably dangerous for grade-schoolers to be reading the writings of Friedrich Nietzche or Marquis DeSade. But we should not shelter our children from these things indefinitely. Who will grow up better prepared to evangelize to those who follow the disgusting worldly philosophies: the one who has studied them and seen their emptiness, or the one who has hid himself from them and from the world? Perhaps you are one to hide, maybe this class will improve your ability to reach out to the lost, to redeem them.
"They clapped and cheered when someone said they support the separation of church and state because Jesus offends them."
I know this veiwpoint is totally offensive and hurtful to both of us, but I offer to you that Jesus supports separation of church and state because the state offends Him. Jesus calls up the Nations, not the States, and there is a huge, huge difference.
Your bible quotes are right on the money.
It's amazing how strong God is that he deals with this stuff all the time. We will never be that strong, but perhaps He is hammering us out to be stonger with these experiences.
Post a Comment