This week the world watched in shock and dismay as an insurrection was attempted at the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Law enforcement was assaulted, an important democratic process was disrupted, Federal building was vandalized, property was stolen, elected officials were endangered while doing their job, and worst of all, people lost their lives!
As horrific as this event was—especially for the families who lost loved ones—it is a smaller product of a bigger problem. What we witnessed is the result of a toxic combination of actions and inactions that are devilish, dangerous, and as we saw, deadly. This toxic combination has been brewing in our society for years now, and it has not been properly checked.
But the roots of the Capitol Building Riot run deeper. This was a physical manifestation of a spiritual problem. “4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:1-3)
When you desire what you don’t deserve (except for the grace and mercy of God), you create problems for yourself and others. When you struggle with telling the truth and insist on referring to “wrong” as “right”, you sow seeds of dishonesty that bear the fruit of destruction. We must constantly check out motivations and desires.
As we begin this New Year, let us recommit to doing what’s best for the greater good of the most people, at all times. One way to do that is to always speak up and speak out, when you know something is wrong, even if it doesn’t immediately affect you. Being silent about the vices in our society and world, especially in moments when your voice is needed, makes you complicit. Complicity allows bad seeds to develop roots and bear fruits.
Here is how God feels: “17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” (James 4:17). Each of us should try to avoid sin, including the sin of omission—that’s the sin you commit because you didn’t do what you know you should have done.
Wisdom for Your Week
Your silence could hurt where your speech could help.
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