A dichotomy is a concept normally used to describe two things that are related but opposite.

A paradox is something akin to two concepts that seem to be self-contradictory but true.

I’m not sure if I am living within these spaces right now but if sure feels like it.

My heart loves deeply but, simultaneously, I feel deep anger. What does that say? What do these emotions say about my commitment to follow Jesus?

There is this misconception in our modern comprehension of Jesus that presents him as soft. As merely the Lamb of God. The airbrushed depictions of him (light colored hair, with sheep and children at his feet), depicts him as some kind of gentle soul.

Which, of course, he is.

But that hardly presents the whole picture. Jesus is also the Lion of Judah.

In fact, he is God. God made man. Emmanuel. God with us.

And God, the omniscient, omnipresent, all powerful being in whose image we are created, cannot be airbrushed.

After all, while he is Love Itself, he is also Truth and Justice Itself. And this is something that moderns just don’t understand. 

He is a God of Wrath.

This past seven days have been the most tumultuous for our country since the awful attack in 2001. But this is different by an order of magnitude. Following 9/11, it seems our entire nation was unified, even for a relatively short period of time. Not so now. We are clearly a divided people, large swaths of which hold diametrically opposing visions of who and what we should be.

I fundamentally believe that we are in a clash of civilizations, although those on the other side from my own have a different concept of what “civilization” even means. You can’t be nihilists (those who reject all religious and moral principles who also believe that life is meaningless) and civilized at the same time. Not all of those on the opposite side from where I stand are nihilists, but they do reject many of the historical religious and moral principles that have shaped our world for the past half millennia and even before.

All of this brings me to this point. How do I live my life as a committed follower of Jesus who teaches us to embody the fundamental character of God while we live in a broken and fallen world? 

If we truly believe that God is equally loving and just … then there is nothing wrong with feeling anger towards evil and injustice. We are taught to hold these two seemingly opposite thoughts and feelings in balance.

Not an easy thing to do.

God hates evil. That’s a fact. He knows it destroys his creation … that Evil acts diametrically opposed to his Will.

Evil is “grooming” children by telling them it’s just fine if they want to mutilate themselves because they think and feel that they were born into the wrong body.

Evil says unborn human beings are just clumps of cells and tissue with no intrinsic value.

Evil says that those who prey on the weak in our society through acts of violence are just “misguided” and are merely “misunderstood.” They are the true victims and don’t deserve justice and punishment. That their victims are actually oppressors and “deserve” what they get.

Evil says it’s ok to celebrate the brazen and public murder of a kind and loving husband and father who just asked questions about principles and sought civil discussion. Evil makes up lies about things he said because it is afraid of the truth. Evil laughs at such a life because it has no other defense.

Those that follow such evil are like water descending in a sink, circling the drain. There is nothing left but the darkness of the hole they have dug for themselves.

That is the ultimate reality. The nature of Evil is to deceive. To lie. To draw our focus away from Truth itself, our Creator, in whose image we are made, even as we are free to choose its opposite. 

I know this with every fiber of my being, although it took five decades to get there and it’s only been two decades since. I always knew that evil was an actual thing, but I could never point to its origin. It all makes sense now.

Wrath can be defined as extreme anger. How could God not “feel” extreme anger at the force that sets out to destroy the beauty of his creation?

Yes, there is a supernatural battle going on that is far greater and in more vivid detail than we can possibly see. I shared this perspective this morning in a group prayer setting: The Enemy sees us as pawns to play in its demonic battle against Good. However, God sees us as his sons and daughters, adopted into the family business of restoring that broken creation. We are kings and queens on that cosmic chess board, make no mistake. He has, via love and grace, adorned us with the royal robe of righteousness and put on our fingers the signet rings that demonstrate we will inherit his Kingdom. (Luke 15:22). 

Surely, there has been rejoicing in heaven that we can only imagine, now that Charlie is welcomed there in glory. Yes, a life was snuffed out by evil. But let the Enemy learn that, from such unspeakable event, the army of God has only been strengthened.

Save me a place at the banquet table, Charlie, for that time I can meet you face to face and say thank you.

Lord, please give me the strength and wisdom to carry out your Will. Please guard my heart that is really angry right now … so that it does not turn hard and into contempt, for that is not loving. I know that anger is completely justified when its object is evil. You have called me to be your son but, also, a member of your army. Help me to find my role in all of that when the pathway can seem cloudy. Let your truth break into me with the help of the Holy Spirit. Let me never forget that you are equally Love and Justice and that both will prevail. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can stand against that. And nothing can separate me from you. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

Attached: An AI depiction of the Great Battle. Archangel vs. the Demonic. This is real.