Christ’s heart is “breaking”.
Like many of you, I woke up early Monday morning to the horrible, “breaking news” of yet another mass killing of dozens and dozens of people in Las Vegas, and the number will go up. The shooters name will be another name in our national nightmare of violence.
The “breaking news” is such an apropos phrase, because hundreds of lives have now been broken by evil. Thousands of hearts are breaking even as I write this. Families and loved ones have been shattered by news that will cause a grief too deep and painful for words. The news breaks my heart. It is news of a broken world.
Who do we turn to at such a time as this? So many look to politicians, pundits and famous personalities but I would humbly suggest you turn to the only One who can bring healing and hope to a breaking world. Jesus Christ, God’s Son knows all about suffering. He entered into this broken world and His heart broke with love and compassion for we were a people without a shepherd. He went to a cross where His body was broken for the world as the sins and violence of the world were placed upon Him.
What love would cause Him to enter into our suffering, to suffer for us at a cross and to suffer with us in our tragedies? An infinite love that no gunman, no violence, no darkness will ever be able to snuff out. Nicholas Wolterstorff, a former Yale professor wrote in his book, “Lament for a Son”, “God is not only the God of the sufferers but the God who suffers. The pain and fallenness of humanity have entered into His heart.” When we turn to Christ, we have a God who is not only is present in our suffering, but who can also redeem it and give us victory over it. Until that ultimate victory that is ours in Christ, let us enter into the sorrow and suffering that is all around us and bring the hope of Christ’s love.