APP: Violence can happen in lots of places and different situations. We see it so much in movies and TV shows that we’ve almost become desensitized to it. Violence can erupt across a country, on city streets, on a school campus, or in a home, causing amazing damage. Millions are victimized each year by rape, assault, and theft. The outcome can even lead to war and genocide where countless people are hurt and killed. It’s scary to realize that we live in a culture where certain “acts” are no longer even considered violent by some people. What’s the source? Where does this expression of physical or verbal force against self and others come from? The answer might surprise you. It’s the human heart. It leans toward all kinds of sin, including violence, from the day we are born. There is a way to bring an end to the terrible violence in our world today. It starts with each person experiencing a spiritual heart transplant from God. He is the only One who knows what violence the human heart is capable of and who can transform it for good. What can you do—with God’s help—to curb violence in your part of the world?
But Jesus told him, “Put your sword away. Anyone who lives by fighting will die by fighting. Don’t you know that I could ask my Father, and right away he would send me more than twelve armies of angels? But then, how could the words of the Scriptures come true, which say that this must happen?”
MATTHEW 26:52–54 CEV
The LORD examines both the righteous and the wicked. He hates those who love violence.
PSALM 11:5 NLT
“Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.”
JEREMIAH 22:3 NKJV
Don’t envy violent people or copy their ways.
PROVERBS 3:31 NLT
“Stop your violence and oppression and do what is just and right.”
EZEKIEL 45:9 NLT
“The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my Savior, You save me from violence.”
2 SAMUEL 22:3 NKJV