With the desperate atrocity that occurred in Las Vegas yesterday, it is understandable for people to question justice, freedom and God Himself; I guarantee "If God is real, why do terrible things happen to innocent people?" will dominate RE Lessons over the coming weeks...it usually does anyway!
And on the back of that, I can fully understand why people question the existence of a loving God when such things occur. And this is where the difference is between Christians and Not-Yet-Christians: For NYChristians, the understanding of God is superficial; it is a surface-level acknowledgement of what the Bible says God does for Mankind. Belief aside, for the purposes of passing exams, many young people know what God's love is...it's written in their exercise books!
For Christians though, we feel His love. A world of difference.
The BBC is in a rush to discover what caused Stephen Paddock to spray thousands of bullets at people having a fun night out (as if it matters right now!); but in the middle of utter hatred and sheer evil, stories of acts of love are flooding social media. There are stories of dads shielding their kids from the attack, strangers helping others to their feet and barking orders to get to safety at those frozen in fear. And, as is beautifully commonplace these days, a crowdfunding pot growing to many millions of dollars within the first few hours of going live. People are feeling the love of the world right now - trivial differences replaced by compassion. Leo Tolstoy sums it up with his story "Where Love is, God is," and the Bible tells us, "God is love." When brutal acts are diluted by selfless acts of love, God breaks through.
The moment anyone experiences love therefore, they experience God...although they may not know it. And this is where we come in as Christians.
Let us show love to those around us at all times. That doesn't mean agreeing with them or endorsing their views, but figuratively it is laying down on top of them when attacks occur; it's getting people to safety when they don't know what to do; it's giving without clauses. If we show love, we show God. If we show God, people will start to feel His love rather than just know it. And in doing so, we will know God in a completely new way too!
"Let us love one another, since love comes from God...God is love!" 1 John 4:7-9