I see a lot of Christians espousing hate. Whenever I log onto Facebook, I invariably see someone calling for an entire group to be killed, whereas a few hours ago that same someone quoted a Bible verse about love and compassion. Those two ideals do not mix. Often, the calls for bombing ISIS go beyond that group and sentiments arise for the eradication of entire countries of mostly innocent people. That is just unacceptable.
As Christians we are called to be Christlike, right? We are called to live our lives in the same way that Jesus lived His. Now, this is not possible for us; we are not perfect humans like Him. However, we still need to try. We need to curate our thoughts and where we find any ounce of hatred for our fellow man, we must replace that with love. Because honestly, if Jesus were walking this earth in America today, he would not condone the language or post the things to social media that I hear and see on a daily basis. Why should we purposefully act any differently than He would?
Jesus died for all of us, not just some of us. His death provided atonement for everyone’s sins that accepted Him, not just ones that already agreed with His teachings. His death provides the forgiveness that we need, but it also shows us that we are made to love and to forgive others.
Jesus taught his disciples how to pray in Matthew 6; it is what we call the Lord’s Prayer. Personally, whenever I find it hard to start my daily prayers, I will often lead with this. For me it acts as a great guideline for how I should pray and talk with God. And amidst the sentiments expressed in Matthew 6:9-13, most are relatively easy to earnestly feel. It is easy to be in awe of the Father and wish for His will to be done. It is easy to ask Him for nourishment, forgiveness, and a path that leads us away from temptation.
However, there is one part of the Lord’s Prayer that I always stumble upon. Jesus tells us to ask for forgiveness in the same way that we forgive others. I cannot speak for you all, but I find it hard to forgive others who have wronged me. And in verses 14 and 15 Jesus tells us that if we do not forgive those who have sinned against us, then we will not be forgiven by the Father. That is a gut check. I tout forgiveness all of the time without living out the fact that I am to forgive as well.
With this in mind, I not only send up praises in prayer and ask for forgiveness for my sins, I pray for all those who have sinned against me. I pray for the person that cut in front of me at Chick-fil-A and the person that sped up to take the parking spot that I was clearly there for first. I also pray for ISIS.
I pray for them because they are men, just like me. They are made in His image, just like me. And they have hate in their hearts, just like me. I do not pray that their radical ideology spreads; I do not pray that their senseless killings continue. I pray that they can feel God’s love in a world full of hate. I pray that we as a nation can rid ourselves of hate and love our neighbors – all of our neighbors – as we love ourselves. I pray that myself and my brothers and sisters in Christ can truly become the extensions of God’s love and forgiveness that we are meant to be.
I pray for ISIS because, one day, I hope that they will not exist and that in their stead, we will find a world full of grace and love instead of fear and hate.
