Today is the 11th year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. We can all probably vividly remember where we were in 2001 on September 11, recall what happened in the order that it happened and who we talked to and so forth. It will always be a day that we will never forget.
Today I would like to guide us to remember something else, something more.
On September 11, 2001 there was this temptation like there is anytime a tragedy happens. The temptation is that if God truly loves and wants the best for us, why would He allow something this horrific to happen. We would infer that God ordained for these things to happen.
We have all been there.
Maybe its the passing of a loved one or a large scale national tragedy like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, or the shootings in Aurora, Colorado. I will stop there but the sad fact is that I could go on and on listing other events in my lifetime of terrible things happening.
We remember these events, yes, but I think it is so important not to stay there as my pastor and friend, Dale Schultz said today. We must live on and embrace life everyday. Doesn’t mean its easy, it’s quite the opposite at times.
We must live on.
We also must remember above all what the Apostle John said many times. That if we abide in the love of Christ that Christ himself abides in us. To say another way it says in 1 Corinthians 12:31:
Use your ambition to try to get the greater gifts. And I’m going to show you an better way.
God came to this earth to show us the best way to live through His son Jesus Christ, because if we remember and stay in those terrible moments we are not embrace the better way that He taught to embrace. We must embrace the way of Christ, because through this embracing experience we are engaging in the very better way that Christ ordained for us.
I encourage you and I to always remember above all that God loves you and His is so powerful that even the presence of fear cannot approach Him. His perfect and amazing love casts out fear. God is the ultimate embodiment of love.
We will always remember 9/11, but remember also that God’s love is always right beside you, and His grace is always extended to you.
Amen.