They Know Not What They Do

I found it in a shop in a small Texas town.

It was a ceramic piece depicting a cross with an American flag. Hanging on the cross beam was a gun in a holster.

The motto: “My God, my gun, my country.”

“We sell a lot of those,” the shopkeeper said.

Does the maker of this piece know anything about Jesus? What about the shopkeeper selling it?

And what about those church people who support a man of vengeance for high office.

Do they know Jesus?

Can you be a Christian and ignore the heart of the gospel message?

And what is that core message? It is that God loves all of us all the time—no matter who we are or what we’ve done.

God loves even his enemies. That includes you and me from time to time.

And here’s the rest of that core message? We are to love like God loves.

We, too, are to love our enemies.

In Matthew 5:46, Jesus tells us to love those who do not love us.

Hurting people is out.

Vengeance is out.

So, what of those millions of church people who support a man of vengeance for high office?

Have they never heard the Word? Or have they heard it and rejected it?

I think they have never heard it—not from the pulpits in their churches.

This is where we need to remember what Jesus said from the cross:

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

I think many people who claim the name of Christ don’t know who they serve or what he stands for.

+++

We invite your support for Friday’s Word. See “Give” at the top of our web page.