“For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!”
Ezekiel 18:32

“I’ll come back to that church after three good funerals!”…I heard this decades ago when visiting a member who had stopped coming to church. It is hard to believe the way that we can justify our ill will towards others. Foolishly, some think that their hateful feelings are a form of righteous indignation. They are missing the point. It is not God’s will that any should die. God did not create death. Sin did that. All that is good in our world came from almighty God. Yet, we are quick to attribute the bad to God and ignore the good things he has done all around us. We remember the prophet Jonah sitting outside of Nineveh sulking under a tree hoping that God would smite his enemies (Jonah 4:5). We forget that God made them as well. They are his creation and he never wanted them to be harmed or destroyed. God has always desired for his creation to be good (Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). Jesus came preaching “abundant life” (John 10:10). While all the rest of life is bent towards death, loss, and decay, Christ comes bringing life, renewal, and restoration.
This task has been placed in the hands of God’s people, the church. We are called to do good to others. We are called to give life. We seek to bring unity and peace in the name of Christ. We mustn’t let our hearts grow calloused and hard toward others. That is readily available in our world. What the church offers is different than everywhere else. We show them Christ. A way of life that is transformed by love, forgiveness, and righteousness.