When Teresa May said ‘enough is enough’ I thought she was
going on to quote from Ephesians chapter six!
‘Enough is enough’ said Teresa May on Sunday morning. She
didn't quite go on to say ‘for our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly realms’, but she came quite close:
… while the recent attacks are not connected by common
networks, they are connected in one important sense. They are bound together by
the single evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows
division and promotes sectarianism …
We were listening to the Prime Minister’s speech, whilst
travelling back from a holiday in Wales, in the aftermath of the terrorist
attack in London on Saturday night. I was also thinking about Paul’s concluding
words in his letter to Ephesus and ‘enough is enough’ sounded like an
appropriate introduction to chapter 6:10-20.
As followers of Jesus we have been equipped with a whole
array of means with which to respond to hatred and violence … truth,
righteousness, faith, salvation, the word of God, love, mercy, prayer …
Once home, on Sunday we settled down to watch (along with
the rest of Britain it seems) One Love Manchester. In so many ways it was akin
to large worship gathering. All the exhortations from practically everyone from
the centre stage were to love not hate. Everyone was encouraged to recognise
God was for them (Justin Beiber).
Fingers in the air pointing heavenwards, hands raised to bless those suffering,
etc. I felt all it needed was someone to stand up on stage towards the end and
share a paraphrase of Acts 17: 22-28 … you are worshipping ‘love’, but do you
now see this God you speak of is love and has given his life so you might live
…
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