For My Bible tells me so

Jesus loves me yes I know, because my Bible tells me so.  Because my Bible tells me so… My morning Bible study included Chapters 10 and 11 in Acts.  You may have heard the story.   Peter, a Jewish believer in Jesus, was approached by God.   God shows him food considered “unclean” by Jews and tells him to get up and eat.  Peter says no because it is unclean and common.  And God says, “Do not call anything unclean that God has made clean.”  This morning I found that amusing.  I have always felt different and not like everyone else.  Sometimes I felt “less than” or “unclean” for lack of a better word and a little awkward in social settings.  So I just giggled because I wasn’t meant to be common and I can’t be unclean because He created me in His image.  You go God! And that story just kept going through my head.  Then a friend shared a prayer with me that talked about not comparing ourselves to others because He made us perfect in His eyes.  We were wonderfully made.  And again I was like Yeah God!  Apparently He wasn’t finished sharing with me.  I like it when I get to spend a whole day in constant communication with Him. 

And then my daughter brought to my attention that three Muslim students were killed last night on a North Carolina University Campus and it was only a whisper from the mouths of the media.  I knew she had to be mistaken because no one was talking about it.  It was sad, it was horrendous and it was not mentioned on any of the news I had watched tonight.  Why?  Surely it can’t be because these children created in God’s image, these children that were fearfully and wonderfully made and that He loved were also Muslim.

Please tell me that is not why it is not mentioned?  And a third time today God took me back to Acts 10 and 11.  God said to not make “unclean” what He made clean.  He made them.  Now after Peter was told by God to not make unclean what he deemed clean, Peter, a Jew, was invited to visit in the home of gentiles. Now Jewish law stated he was not to go there. And up until that point, he probably would not have gone but he said, “God has shown me that I should not call anyone unclean or impure.”  And because of his obedience the Holy Spirit came down upon the gentile, whom Peter and Jews in general would have considered unclean,  and they were baptized in the Holy Spirit and praised God and started to speak in tongues.  When Peter began to see people through God’s eyes with no judgement and just love, something amazing happened.  On that day God fulfilled the promise He made to Abraham when He told him that he would be the father of many nations. On that day, the barrier between gentile and Jew was broken, the veil was torn again and no man was excluded from God’s grace and God’s love.

So why then do we, in what is supposed to be a Christian nation, decide what death is worthy of our time, our sympathy, our compassion?  These lives mattered to their parents, their community and to God.  I am saddened that we have turned our backs on them and barely whispered their story.  And so I will sing, Jesus loves them yes I know for MY  Bible tells me so, Yes Jesus loves me, Yes Jesus loves them, Yes Jesus loves us, For my Bible tells me so….