Letter To Our Children
by Pastor Joe | May 29, 2024 | Letters To Our Children
May 29, 2024
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
It was a sport to kill a Jew,” he says. “[Your typical Nazi] is not going to go in the mud and get dirty and filthy; he is doing it for happiness, for enjoyment. So when it was raining, I knew I was safe.
Maxwell Smart, who at Ten years old,
fled the Nazis to live starving; and alone
in the woods for two years.
Hello Friends.
In the United States of America, we set aside the last Monday of May to honor those who have served and died in military service.
One day, war will end. Right now, there are wars taking place all over this planet. In the Middle East and North Africa alone, there are more than 45 conflicts. Since the fall of men and women, war has always been a part of life. Currently, 2.86 million people serve in the United States armed forces.
A few weeks ago, I was at a concert for peace. A video of war scenes from the 20th century played throughout the concert. The majority of the scenes were from World War I and II.
One Little Boy
Maxwell Smart was only a ten-year-old, Jewish boy when he was hiding from the Nazis during World War Two. He said it was sport for the Nazis to kill Jews. His story along with many other’s stories will be told in a soon-coming documentary, Cheating Hitler, and in the 2023’s The Boy in the Woods.
For two years, he hid in the forest, living hand to mouth, separated from his mother and father, who were taken to the Nazi death camps. Some weeks, he lived on one slice of bread, others he ate from what he could forage from the land.
Remember
Every human being is made in God’s image. Therefore, human beings have enormous value. War on this side of heaven either protects or destroys that value.
War, as an act of violence, ultimately begins from within a person, within our hearts and minds. Pride, greed, envy, jealousy, lust for power — all these left unchecked can lead to wars and conflicts, and they are all part of the human heart (Mark 7:20-23). What causes fights and quarrels among you? (Ask the Bible) Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? (James 4:1).
In the Gospel, praise God, He redeems the weak and the sinful. In this, Christ turns the world upside down to make it right side up.
There is a sense in the Gospel that God goes to war on our sins. His Son is the causality of that war, but God raises Jesus from the dead to vindicate Him. So, instead of power corrupting, fighting, and destroying—God’s power is saving.
Think of it. God coming into the world and laying down His life for His enemies. Imagine, while understanding and condemning all our wrongdoing, He offers us lasting peace and togetherness, bought by blood, but not our own, rather the willing once-and-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us.
One day, wars will end. War reminds us this world is not heaven. Here, things are broken, and war cannot ultimately fix it—only the return of Christ.
God bless you. You are so important.
Pastor Joe
P.S. Don’t forget our 10:00 a.m. Summer worship services begin this Sunday, June 2nd.