Wisdom From Your Elders

I was reading the latest post over at Another Man's Meat this evening, and he brings out a wise point for the zealots:

At one end there are religious extremists who are calling this God’s Day of Judgment and wrath against an evil city. New Orleans is, in their minds, the twenty-first century of Sodom and Gomorrah or Nineveh. I have a simple reminder for them from Holy Writ. In the greatest sermon ever preached, Jesus said these remarkable words:

7 “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

If there are religious zealots reading this blog who are so self-righteous that they feel compelled to judge an entire city I would also remind them that they do so at their peril.

Well put, Phil. All of us should take heed to these wise words. I was talking to a friend of mine last night, and we were discussing the hurricane, and all of the blame that has been thrown around, and we were discussing how these types of things happen every time there is a tragedy. One thought that I shared with my friend, and he concurred, was that in every tragedy, God has brought it around so that he is glorified. This tragedy will be no different. As it is written in Romans 8:28

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

The problem so many times is that we only see the small picture of the tragedy. We fail to see the huge painting of love that God is continuing to work on. If we could only see this painting. One day we will. Until then, take this tragedy as a time to spread the Good News, and to love the world, as Christ loved the world.