Our world is rocked almost on a daily basis with man’s inhumanity to man. Stains of hatred, selfishness, anger, and prejudice covering the world in a firestorm of hate and death. It seems as if the only answer anyone knows is violence. This disease has infected the entire human race since Adam’s time. Where will it stop? What will it take to make it end? Join me for a summer series entitled, Our World Aflame.
2MefromHim Devotionals
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18
Crimson stains spread through the fabric of my nurse’s uniform. The warm, iron-scent of blood, the ivory of bone against ravaged flesh still stains my dreams. The odor of infection still assails my nostrils. My eyes still see, my heart remembers. And it cries.
An ambulance pulls up to the emergency room, blood dripping out the door. My daughter, a paramedic, sworn to protect and save lives, but she works, clad in body armor, against terrorists and mass murderers. Her heart will remember also. But she cannot stop the crimson flood any more than I.
Why do we invite violence to stain our homes, via television, internet, and newspaper—infecting our children with hate? Would the news be as horrible if programs filled with blood and violence were replaced by those showing man helping man?
Stains of deepest red have soaked into the dust of the earth since Cain killed Abel. Still, the ground cries out at the shame of men’s hatred for their brothers.
Children killed.
Spouses murdered.
Police gunned down.
Suicide.
Where will it end?
Trails of bloodstained grief flowed down the face of God’s own Son, striped His back, and matted His hair, as He staggered up the road to the Cross. Nail pierced hands and feet, His bleeding side—Divine blood offered to cleanse man’s sin-marred stains. Forgiveness offered to all who accept His sacrifice in faith through His grace.
How God must weep for His world, created with tenderness and anticipation, each mountain, tree, ocean, flower, sunrise, and sunset planned for our delight. Yet men ignore His shouts of love. His pure, white goodness shining in contrast to blood-red evil as His beloved Son died to offer salvation from sin and death’s finality.
Like stones thrown into a sea of blood, the animosity and anger of humankind spirals in ever-widening circles through the centuries, the pool deepening with each passing year. Destruction, the tool of Satan, tries to drown out the hope, peace, and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
The road away from hate is steep and narrow, but Christ holds out His hand, lifting struggling pilgrims who seek respite from the pestilence. He calls out to those with hearts aching to be healed, to come and receive His love to share with others trapped in the mire of sin and guilt.
Man has forgotten that he was created by and for God’s own unique purpose. In the eyes of modern man, the glory of God’s creation is nothing more than a creature that crawled out of primeval slime, equal in worth to a slug. Man has fallen from the glory God created them for, the concept of original sin relegated to myth. A life with meaning shunned for a Darwinian survival of the fittest mentality.
What will wash away our sin?
Answer Jesus’ call, He who turns crimson stains of sin to white and exchanges the ugliness of hatred for the beauty of eternal life. The God who formed us holds out His hand, ready to lift us from the mire and filth of sin into the circle of His everlasting love.
Nothing except the blood of Jesus.
Come. Accept. Be free.
Only then, will the stains of sin and death be cleansed.
© Copyright by Norma Gail Thurston Holtman, July 12, 2016
About the author:
Norma Gail is the author of the contemporary Christian romance, Land of My Dreams. A women’s Bible study leader for over 21 years, her devotionals and poetry have appeared at ChristianDevotions.us, the Stitches Thru Time blog, and in “The Secret Place.” She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Romance Writers of America, and the New Mexico Christian Novelists. Norma is a former RN who lives in the mountains of New Mexico with her husband of 40 years. They have two adult children.
Connect with Norma:
Website: www.normagail.org
Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Norma-Gail/e/B00ILHXBAK/
Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQbZIoC_JSE
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorNormaGail
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+NormaGailwrites
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/normagailth/boards/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7874459
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Norma_Gail
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/norma-gail-thurston-holtman/42/71a/3b2
Book Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Land-My-Dreams-Norma-Gail/dp/1941103170
Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas Bookstore: http:// lpcbooks.com/product/land-of-my-dreams/
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/land-of-my-dreams-norma-gail/1119606864?ean=9781941103173
8 Comments
Absolutely beautiful, Norma Gail! I know God is brokenhearted. You are so right, only Jesus can save our world. And it must begin with individual believers and with the Church
Thanks for stopping by, Sherry! It is sad to see what the world has come to in its search for fulfillment when the answer has been here all along.
Beautiful devotional on these heartbreaking times, Norma.
Thank you, Felicia! It was heartbreaking to write as well. I had such a struggle letting the Lord convince me that what I had written needed to be posted. I think that was the confirmation that it was needed.
So tired of the hatred and violence. So grateful for Jesus. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for taking time to comment, Melinda! It never hurts to remember how blessed we are. We do not need to be depressed, we just need to keep our eyes on Jesus and share His love with the lost.
and it begins with me. I need to be what the Lord wants me to be and remain focused on Him.
@spreadingJOY
Marie
spreading-joy.org
Norma, I too, think about how the Lord must weep over His glorious Creation that has gone so awry. Thank you for this devotion. I look forward to the next one.