{"id":122,"date":"2015-11-16T17:08:17","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T17:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/?p=122"},"modified":"2015-11-16T17:08:17","modified_gmt":"2015-11-16T17:08:17","slug":"paris-beirut-and-our-calling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2015\/11\/paris-beirut-and-our-calling.html","title":{"rendered":"Paris, Beirut and Our Calling"},"content":{"rendered":"

We live in a broken world.\u00a0 Last week\u2019s attacks in Beirut and Paris were a ghastly reminder of that fact.\u00a0 Now, in the aftermath of these events, our politicians will make speeches, our military forces will respond, and we will\u2026\u00a0 What will we do<\/em>?<\/p>\n

In the book of Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples,<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cYou are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. \u00a0<\/sup>Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/sup>In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.\u201d (Matthew 5:14-16)<\/p>\n

Those are powerful words spoken centuries ago.\u00a0 Yet they perfectly sum up what we are called to do today.\u00a0 In the face of Beirut and Paris, in the face of the unremitting evil in this world, we are called to shine our light before others.\u00a0 We are called to influence the world positively<\/em> by our attitudes, our actions and our treatment of others.<\/p>\n

That means that we have to live out our faith publically.\u00a0 I\u2019m not suggesting that we simply talk about it.\u00a0 Talk is cheap.\u00a0 We are called to do it<\/em>.\u00a0 We are called to be a blessing to others.\u00a0 We are called to take care of the poor.\u00a0 We are called not to judge, but instead to be merciful.\u00a0 We are called to be peacemakers.\u00a0 \u00a0We are called to, \u201cDo to others as you would have them do to you.\u201d (Luke 6:31)\u00a0 Simply put, we are called to be good<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It is only by our goodness that we can change the hearts and minds of those who think that perpetrating violence is an answer.\u00a0 Annihilating ISIS, or Al Qaeda, or whatever terrorist group is getting the most attention, is simply a band-aid approach.\u00a0 Other groups inevitably will spring up in their place.\u00a0 Only by our morality and decency can we ultimately stop the evil that persists in this world.<\/p>\n

Ask yourself this, \u201cIf a 20-something terrorist-in-training met me today, would my behavior make him question his current path?\u201d\u00a0 We can insert all kinds of people into that question.\u00a0 \u201cIf a future school shooter met me today, would he still feel alone in the world?\u00a0 Or would he take a different direction simply by having met me?\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019ve asked myself those very questions.\u00a0 The truth is that I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m having a positive effect on anyone. \u00a0But I keep trying.<\/p>\n

We cannot pretend that what happens in the rest of the world has nothing to do with us.\u00a0 We can\u2019t think that the responsibility to combat evil rests solely with political leaders or with the military.\u00a0 That approach will never work.\u00a0 We collectively have a job to do.\u00a0 Our job is to overwhelm the world with our kindness and our love.<\/p>\n

The best thing that we can do is to let last week\u2019s events be a wake-up call.\u00a0 Those events were a powerful reminder that the world continues to be in desperate need of our good deeds.\u00a0 Let\u2019s continue to be vigilant in doing our part to make the world that much better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We live in a broken world.\u00a0 Last week\u2019s attacks in Beirut and Paris were a ghastly reminder of that fact.\u00a0 Now, in the aftermath of these events, our politicians will make speeches, our military forces will respond, and we will\u2026\u00a0 What will we do? In the book of Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples, \u00a0\u201cYou are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nParis, Beirut and Our Calling - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paris, Beirut and Our Calling - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We live in a broken world.\u00a0 Last week\u2019s attacks in Beirut and Paris were a ghastly reminder of that fact.\u00a0 Now, in the aftermath of these events, our politicians will make speeches, our military forces will respond, and we will\u2026\u00a0 What will we do? 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