[This reflection by David Makanjuola was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 25/Aug/2024]
In last week’s edition of YOURS, one of the prayer points was for kindness, openness & acceptance across the UK, and an end to threats of riots and violence. We were asked to pray for all people who have been affected by the violence and hostility and to pray for a truly welcoming society. It ended with the plea “Heal our land, Lord.”
Like many of you I am sure, I have been very concerned, not just about the riots, but by other issues like the three young girls who were killed in Southport, teenagers carrying knives which look more like swords, people with mental health issues who suddenly snap and cause significant harm to others, wars in other parts of the world with what seems like no end to retaliatory attacks on each other … the list goes on.
Relevant questions to ask include “Why is it happening” and “Is there any hope for an end to this?”.
Picture a patient going to see the doctor about a little lump on their skin. The patient feels they just need a prescription for some cream, but the Doctor is quiet, and is trying to find the right words. She knows this is worse than the patient realises and will need a lot more than cream to fix it.
Your car is making a funny noise, and you finally get it booked into the Garage. You think one of the parts might need replacing and that your Service Plan should cover it. A few hours later, the Garage owner is about to give you a call but is wondering how to break the news to you. It is worse than you thought and will need a lot more than your Service Plan provides to fix it.
God made a lovely garden and created a man and a woman to live in it and look after it. They were given freedom to do just about anything, but managed to do something they were told not to. It seemed a minor thing, but with grave consequences. Two of their sons, Cain and Abel, got caught up in the fall out, with Cain, after he killed Abel, asking God “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
God knew, when Adam and Eve sinned, that it wasn’t a minor problem. The ‘machine’, you could say, was broken more than we realised. God knew that, and also what it would take to fix it, and He chose to fix it rather than throw it on the scrap heap.
We didn’t realise that it would take the death of His son, Jesus, to mend what had been broken. Now that it has been mended, He asks us to accept this as a free gift, not to keep, but to share with others. To share it with, our neighbour, the stranger, our friends and even our enemies.
We know the answer to Cain’s question is “Yes, you are your brother’s keeper”.
The Lord’s prayer includes the lines “May Your Kingdom come; may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Looking out for our brother, our neighbour, the stranger, and our enemy, with the grace that God gives will be an answer to that prayer and also to the prayer in YOURS from last week, “Heal, our land, Lord”.
Resources:
[1]
Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.
Bible dates:
Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.
Horley Baptist Church onlineHBC main site
Confidential prayer link
Link to Recent Reflections
.
Link to Index of Bible Passages
Last week’s reflection: Has He Broken Every Chain? by Dennis Ginter
Contributed by David Makanjuola; © David Makanjuola