It seems like a big issue today is guns. My friend Sam is a gunsmith and has a concealed carry permit. I know Ed who is a member of the NRA and Johnny and Freddy are collectors and own more guns than your local hardware store. And I still have my first Winchester 30 30. But I think we all know that guns are of this world and don’t belong to the Kingdom of God. I am not quite sure why gun ownership is such a big political issue today. I am not going to talk about politics, but I want to share my own personal experience..
For me, I have always had a love – hate relationship with guns. I must have been frightened by a gun when I was a kid. I know I heard frighting stories about people killing and being killed with guns. Yet my father and grandfather owned guns and I was once given a .22 for Christmas. I hunted and shot target, but I always felt a mixed emotion. I new how to clean, disassemble and fire handguns but I also feared them. I killed rabbets with my .22 revolver and shot skunks with my .32 automatic. I never carried a concealed gun, but I admit that I liked the feel when I strapped on my Ruger single six. But I have changed.
It may have started one night in Buenos Aires, when, sitting in a car, a .45 automatic was held to my head by an Argentine policeman and I could smell alcohol on his breath. I recognized the old army automatic (a Colt 1911, I think), but I was shocked by the caliber. 0.45 inches never look so big from the other end. You can bet I prayed, “God, may your Kingdom come, your will be done.”
It was in Colombia that I learned the feel of an AK-47, yet I never touched one. But I can tell you that you can feel it in your stomach when one is pointed, close range at your gut. I did not like that feel any better than looking down the business end of a .45. I could go on, but I think you get the point. There are always two ways to look at everything, especially a gun and it looks very different from each end. Anyway, I don’t like guns very much anymore. I look forward to the time when they are beaten into hoes and plows in the Kingdom of God. (Mic. 4:2-5)
As the Gather song goes, “Jesus came to love, heal and forgive.” I can’t think of anything more exactly opposite to the way of Jesus than a handgun. Today, especially in the street, a handgun means hate, hurt and unforgivingness – There is nothing more unforgiving than a 9mm hollow point or .357 mag silvertip. Whatever the laws of this world, what ever the news says, there is no place for a Glock in the Kingdom of God. I have chose Jesus and his kingdom and so I sold my guns and bought a refrigerator.