Slow to Speak

 

I’ve stayed quiet because I haven’t known what to say. I’ve stayed quiet because I didn’t want to post something mindlessly or flippantly. I’ve stayed quiet because I’ve seen so much division on social media, so much anger and so much fighting. Tensions are understandably high and it makes it difficult to discern what to say and how to talk about it. I’ve stayed quiet because I haven’t been ready in any way to take part in this highly emotional and important conversation. I will never post or speak to anything that I haven’t prayed over and looked for Wisdom on in His Word. I want to be properly informed, but more than anything I want to be a good representation of Christ’s love. 

“Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger”

— James 1:19 

I’ve stayed quiet, but I haven’t been unphased. The life that was lost is a reminder of the broken world we live in, it’s a reminder of how badly this world needs Jesus. It’s an impossible situation to begin with and it is difficult to talk about. I struggle to find the right words even now. 

A man was murdered. What happened to George Floyd was disgusting, traumatic, tragic, incredibly difficult to watch; it was murder. Justice is worth fighting for, for George Floyd. Justice is something we crave and we should. It’s how God created us to be. Unfortunately, that craving of justice is quickly turning into dangerous anger across our country. People are hurting. People are angry. It is real and we can’t ignore it. I don’t mean that you have to post something or else you’re ignoring it and you’re racist, because that is NOT true (I’ve seen so many posts inferring this). I mean that we need to show up in a bigger way. We need to love harder and we need to listen to those who are hurting. We need to listen to them, love on them, and share the incredible, life changing, chain-breaking Truth that we, as Christ Followers, get to rest in. We serve a Heavenly Father who is equally loving as He is Just. We can stand firm for what is right, but we also get to rest in Him because He has already won the war.

I think there has been too much pressure on posting and not enough pressure on loving and praying. We love and we pray. THAT is what we do in the midst of this chaos. We love and we don’t stop loving; we pray and we don’t stop praying. 

I pray for vindication for those who are treated unfairly. I pray for comfort for George Floyd’s family. I pray for strength as a country that we can come together and not have further division. I pray that we are able to look at the world around us through our Heavenly Fathers lens. That we see the people around us as loved by Him. No matter what their skin color is, what opinion they have, or whatever other human-flawed lenses you may have. We live in a broken sinful world, but we have a God who is bigger than the pain, bigger than the brokenness. So I will trust, I will love, and I will pray.