President George W. Bush spoke at a memorial service held yesterday for the fallen officers. He made this remarkable point:
"Americans, I think, have a great advantage. To renew our unity, we only need to remember our values. We have never been held together by blood or background. We are bound by things of the spirit, by shared commitments to common ideals."
President Bush is right. Many nations find their unity in a monolithic
racial heritage, culture, or history. But America has never been about
such uniformity. From the beginning we were home to Protestants and
Catholics and Jews, immigrants from across Europe and around the world.
President Bush explained our unique solidarity:
"At our best, we honor the image of God we see in one another. We recognize that we are brothers and sisters, sharing the same brief moment on Earth and owing each other the loyalty of our shared humanity."
In other words, the closer we draw to our Savior, the closer we draw to each other.
President Obama, speaking at the memorial service, quoted Ezekiel 36:26: "I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."
The key to this "new heart" is found in the next verse: "And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules" (v. 27).
Human words cannot change human hearts. The One who made us is the only One who can change us.
That means that Christians are on the front lines of this conflict, the only salt and light in a culture dying for truth and hope.
Writing for The Washington Post, legendary Dallas pastor Dr. Tony Evans traces our challenges "directly to ineffective Christians" and states, "one of the real tragedies today is that the Church as a whole has not furthered God's light, equity, love and principles in our land in order to be a positive influence and impact for good in the midst of darkness, fear and hate."
He calls for churches to unite in a "solemn assembly" with prayer and fasting, to train our members to be verbal and visible followers of Jesus, and to unite for good works in our communities. This is our "God-given role of influencing the conscience of our culture." Without it "our country will keep spiraling downward into the depths of fear and hate."
In confronting the divisions of our day, the church must be the church. Whatever it takes, whatever the cost, wherever our Master leads. President Obama noted, "We cannot match the sacrifices made by Officers Zamarippa and Ahrens, Krol, Smith and Thompson, but surely we can try to match their sense of service. We cannot match their courage, but we can strive to match their devotion."
Our service and our devotion must be to Jesus as our Lord and then to our neighbor as ourselves.
President Bush explained our unique solidarity:
"At our best, we honor the image of God we see in one another. We recognize that we are brothers and sisters, sharing the same brief moment on Earth and owing each other the loyalty of our shared humanity."
In other words, the closer we draw to our Savior, the closer we draw to each other.
President Obama, speaking at the memorial service, quoted Ezekiel 36:26: "I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."
The key to this "new heart" is found in the next verse: "And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules" (v. 27).
Human words cannot change human hearts. The One who made us is the only One who can change us.
That means that Christians are on the front lines of this conflict, the only salt and light in a culture dying for truth and hope.
Writing for The Washington Post, legendary Dallas pastor Dr. Tony Evans traces our challenges "directly to ineffective Christians" and states, "one of the real tragedies today is that the Church as a whole has not furthered God's light, equity, love and principles in our land in order to be a positive influence and impact for good in the midst of darkness, fear and hate."
He calls for churches to unite in a "solemn assembly" with prayer and fasting, to train our members to be verbal and visible followers of Jesus, and to unite for good works in our communities. This is our "God-given role of influencing the conscience of our culture." Without it "our country will keep spiraling downward into the depths of fear and hate."
In confronting the divisions of our day, the church must be the church. Whatever it takes, whatever the cost, wherever our Master leads. President Obama noted, "We cannot match the sacrifices made by Officers Zamarippa and Ahrens, Krol, Smith and Thompson, but surely we can try to match their sense of service. We cannot match their courage, but we can strive to match their devotion."
Our service and our devotion must be to Jesus as our Lord and then to our neighbor as ourselves.
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