”The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
There is power to destroy and power to heal and give life. There is power to turn buildings into rubble and to destroy the lives of people in those buildings. We have seen buildings destroyed by bombs made to kill and destroy, We have also seen people pulling away rubble in search of bodies and upon finding a person alive do all they can to get that person to a place of healing.
We have power to choose life and power to choose death, power to heal and power to harm. Given the amount of money that we, as a nation, spend on bombs and missiles (our president is asking for more) and the ease of movement from diplomacy to war, it is clear we believe in the power to kill and destroy. Money that could go to the uplift of people in need goes to the power to rob people of life.
We have a president who speaks gleefully of the power to destroy. He threatens to destroy a whole civilization. He overestimates his power. But he, along with all of us, have power to destroy, to take down, to belittle, to discard, to demean, to hate, to speak falsely, to live falsely, to rob our lives of reality.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”
We also have power to love, to heal, to raise up and restore.
What we do with the power available to us has us being either those who steal or those who give, those who destroy or those who heal. There is choice involved.
“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity….Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:15,19)
What will we decide? What will we believe in? Will we trust ourselves to the power of death or the power of life, the power of the lie or the power of truth? Will we be thieves who steal and kill and destroy, or with Christ, in whom we find our true humanity, come to others with life and healing and give abundantly.
What kind of nation do we want?