“Be angry [at sin—at immorality, at injustice, at ungodly behavior], yet do not sin; do not let your anger [cause you shame, nor allow it to] last until the sun goes down. And do not give the devil an opportunity [to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, or nurturing anger, or harboring resentment, or cultivating bitterness].” – Ephesians 4:26-27
I’m angry! I cannot unsee what I saw. I saw a man tortured before my very eyes and before the eyes of a nation. Killed for what, I ask? He was taken captive, pressed down and broken, unheard by the very ones who were meant to do him no harm. He was betrayed by the ones who were meant to protect and serve. All for what? He cried out. He called out, using his voice to indicate his distress, and he was met with stone-faced indifference. He was disregarded. He was silenced. He was brutally and forever quieted by hate, by sin, and by evil.
Hate. Sin. Evil. All of these rolled up into one become the IT that lives among us. IT becomes the unsaid and the said. The IT is blatant and insidious. IT is poisonous and beguiling. IT is captivating and deadly. IT dwells among us, and IT is in the hearts of men. IT influences our actions and many times our inaction. IT steers us in a wayward direction that is far from God. IT causes us to enter into the zone of desperate wickedness. IT is vile and despicable. Because of IT – the hate, the sin, the evil – we become barbarians of darkness and harbingers of immorality. To this, I say NO! This cannot be our course.
Hear me when I say that even in my justified anger, I must not forget God. You must not forget God. We cannot forget the LORD. Is it hard to breathe through this? Yes, it is. I know. It is an unbelievable and unjust state that we have come to in our world. God help us! What we must remember, however, is that we are called to a spiritual mindedness and a more righteous response. We combat IT by lifting up the LORD even more. Jesus conquered the IT, therefore we are conquerors. Keep your mind stayed on that. Without God and a godly sensibility, without a sanctified morality, without a holy compass, and without a prayerful heart rooted in love, we become messengers of and slaves to the IT.
As I tearfully type these words, I have to put Ephesians 4:26-27, Matthew 5:43-44, Ephesians 6:12, and so many other scriptures into practice…on repeat mode. I have to remember Jesus in all of this madness. I have to remember love. But I also have to lend my voice to #GeorgeFloyd and to all of those who like him have suffered at the hands of IT. Brown-skinned, white-skinned, melanin deficient skinned – no matter who you are or where you come from, you and I must take a stand against the IT.
Thoughts for YOU to Consider:
1) Who will you serve on this day? (Will you be a servant of IT or a follower of the LORD JESUS CHRIST?)
2) Who do you help by remaining silent when you see, are aware of, or blindly, comfortably, and quietly accept the IT around you?
3) Are you your brother’s keeper? (Who is your brother, and is this based on skin color?)
4) Are we to help the fatherless, the homeless, the widowed, the poor, the indigent, the godless?
5) What are you doing to deal with the IT among us?
6) Is what happened to #GeorgeFloyd indicative of what can happen to any man, woman, boy or girl in this country or in this world?
7) What reaction should you have when you are faced with the outrageous audacity of the IT?
WHERE ARE THE CHRISTIAN VOICES NOW?
#AWAKEN #ENOUGH #SPEAKFORTHOSEWHOCANNOT #CONQUERINGTHEIT #JUSTICEFORALL #BLACKLIVESMATTER #KINGJESUS
The Phone Tree Bible Study Group 
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