I wonder what would happen if we Christians all focused on pleasing Jesus. Maybe we'd stop offending and being offended. But rather than being concerned with pleasing Jesus, many have become quite vicious. I don’t think it ever pleases Jesus for His followers to feel another deserves to die or that their soul should "rot in hell" regardless of the reason one would use to justify these feelings. Sadly, I've heard these feelings voiced from many who claim to be followers of Christ.

I am witnessing a venomous cycle of hate breeding hate, and it disturbs me a great deal. We Christians have been called to be salt and light, but, instead, many of us are contributing to the darkness by becoming hateful towards the hateful. And many of us use the hatefulness of others to try to justify our own hateful words and behaviors.

We Christians say we love God, but I recall the Bible telling us that we cannot claim to love God if we don’t love others. (Read 1 John chapter 4.) It seems to me that showing God’s love reveals His light in the darkness.

There are a lot of disturbing happenings and voices being seen and heard. And the chaos is making people confused and, thus, fearful and angry. Though it is true we can love God and still be hurt by the chaos around us, our relationship with Him is meant to help us overcome. If we’d shift our focus to loving Him, I think we'd be less likely to allow our hurts to cause us to hurt others. It’s what we should strive for. Unfortunately, though, many of us who claim to love God don't behave as if we do. Rather, we contribute to the chaos by behaving in hateful and hurtful ways. I don’t want to be confused, fearful, and angry, or hateful and hurtful, but only God can help me not be. I've been asking Him for His peace to be most prevalent in my life and for His discernment and wisdom.

It seems many of us are more focused on the "enemy" than on the Savior. And I think we need to just stop it!