April 9th, 2021: Hate Starts with Our Contempt toward God

 


I came across this picture as I responded to a prayer request from a Police Chaplain. Summer 2020 was a summer of hell for many police officers in the US and Canada. It was one of condemnation. I know some police officers, and I am not unaware of how they feel and what their families have to go through.


None of us wants a job that constantly deals with the worst manifestation of human beings. We don't want to deal with murders, spousal abuses, child abuses, horrid automotive accidents, suicides, teenage prostitution, addiction, and more.


Police officers have to deal with the ugliness of human life daily. We expect them not to be damaged by what they have to encounter. We tell them that they should be better. We react when they have to use force to subdue someone. We cry "police brutality" as soon as someone is hurt because they refuse to cooperate. Please understand that I am not condoning the wrongful use of power and force.


How often do we have to go through an investigation because some people perceive that we didn't do our job correctly? Do we care enough to ask about their families? Sometimes we fail to understand that police officers are also people, and they are affected by life the same way we are. They don't have bulletproof vests against personal human suffering.


So let us be gracious toward those who put their lives in danger for us. Let us pray that we have the courage to correct what is wrong and not give in to the narrative of de-funding the police. The problem we face is not just about race. We try to find answers for our broken humanity. It is about hate. Hate starts with our contempt for God. We should go deeper than racism to find healing for our brokenness. The truth remains in our fallen nature that fails to appreciate God's beauty.


Psalm 34: 17-20

"When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken."

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