Peace on Earth, Good-will To Men

If we ever needed a reminder that we are a world in need of a Savior, Friday was it. I read the news with growing shock and sadness. Multiple deaths, several children, at the whim of one man. And worst of all, the knowledge that this is just the most recent (and among the most horrific) of a growing trend.

Blame whatever you want for it: guns, or video games, or movies, or the Media. Blame us. Blame a fallen World, growing in her depravity as her population collectively struggles against its own yoke of sin, while steadfastly refusing the Hand of the One who can remove it.

I had a hard time, Friday, as we talked about the horror of another school shooting; of the parents who have just suffered through what no parent should ever have to experience. The father of four small children myself, I could barely contain my own sorrow and anger on behalf of all the fathers and mothers in that small Connecticut town. "I'm praying for them," I told my coworkers. "I'm glad the shooter is dead, because I can't bring myself to pray for him."

And in that gentle way of Brothers in Christ, I was reminded by one of those coworkers that it's not about me. "You know," he said, "Jesus came for him, too."

This is neither the last nor the greatest of the horrifying acts man is capable of visiting on his fellow man. A world struggling to deny its Creator can only sink itself into the mire of sin and despair. And that's exactly why Jesus came.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow had just lost his wife, and was watching His nation embroiled in Civil War. His son had been severely wounded in battle and the news of gunfire and death surrounded him. Surely it must have seemed that everything he had ever known or had faith in was crumbling around him. It was in the midst of this chaos that Longfellow wrote the words, "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day."

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;

"For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men."