Spiritual Love Warrior

Is goodnes, kindess, and love wavering in our modern times?

I have been seeing headlines, social media posts and the like and to me, there seems to be an increase in violence. What caught my attention is that so far in 2023, there has been 14 school shootings. That’s in 3 months time! My heart is hurting over this staggering count. When I was in school, we didn’t have to worry about school shooting drills and wondering if we were to make it home at the end of the day. What is happening to our country? Am I the only one who cries whenever I see yet another news report of a violent action which resulted in deaths of a precious human life?

“Goodness is love in action, love with its hand at the plow, love with the burden on its back; it is love carrying medicine to the sick, and food to the famished; it is love reading the Bible to the blind, and explaining the Gospel to the felon in his cell; it is love at the Sunday-class, or in the Ragged School; it is love at the hovel-door, or sailing far away in the missionary ship; but whatever task it undertakes, it is still the same–love following His footsteps, “who went about continually doing good” [Acts 10:38].”

James Hamilton (1814-1867) Scottish minister, in Day’s Collacon 

Check out these statisics from Gun Violence Archive

what is missing?

“God did not create evil. Just as darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of God” . ~Albert Einstein

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In the book of John, Jesus is in Galilee at the Temple with the scribes. The Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultury. They are asking him, what HE would do, as the law of Moses states that she should be stoned. This is where Jesus says, ” He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” One by one, the acusers left, leaving the woman and the onlookers who remain. He addresses those who remain and said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. “.

The above quote and Jesus’s encounter with the accused woman may not seem connected, but in a way they are. You see, if Evil is the absence of light, and God is the light, then those who walk with God (Christ), know the light. They follow HIS ways.

For us who walk in the light of God, we do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment (John 7:24). We, the children of God , strive to practice the Fruits of the Spirit as mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23 (see below). Against such things, there is no law.

• Love
• Joy
• Peace
• Patience
• Kindness
• Goodness
• Self-Control

To give you context about the topic in Galatians, it adresses Life by the Spirit.

Life by the Spirit

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever^] you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

In Closure

It is my wish, that more people will walk in the light, to live life by the Spirit, so the amount of current violence in America and the world will be shortened. We can help with this by leading by example, to stand up to those who are being wrongfully accused or bullied. To speak with those who feel depressed and downtrodden. If we kindly, without zealousness, share the Light of God, then we can make a differnence, one kindness and loving word at at time.