The Destructive Few

This past weekend leaders of the most powerful countries in the world met in Toronto to talk about how to make things better for the people of their countries and the people of the world.  Some have great motives, others may have no motive other than having their citizens re-elect them to power, but they all want to see their citizens do well and their countries prosper.  The whole thing cost a huge amount of money, over a billion dollars for Canada to host the conference.  Why so much?  Security.  There are always protesters at these events.  Most are peaceful, wanting the world to know about their particular cause.  Others, a tiny few, come only to cause mayhem, to damage and destroy.  They don’t really have any other agenda and they spoil it for all the others who peacefully let their voices be heard.  These violent few hurt others, that’s their only real goal.  The cost to protect people and property from these few is enormous.  At the end of it all the media always try and make the police look like villains.  The police either don’t do enough, or are too violent.  The police are doing their job, responding to violent young men and women who want to commit wanton acts of destruction. I truly feel badly for the police.  They do an admirable job.

The cost of protecting people against the destructive acts of a few is always high.  A few criminals in society cost so much to control and incarcerate.  But think further.  Think about the bad things that everyone does against God and the good He wants to do.  Think about what that costs to rectify.  God Himself took on the nature of a human being, came to earth as a baby, lived a perfect life and then was crucified and died as a sacrifice to make it possible for each of us to have a personal relationship with Him.  God gave Himself for us.  That is a high price to pay to reconcile us to God.  And the end result?  A few receive the offer of salvation and eternal life.  Most just decry God’s injustice because He won’t receive us except His way.   Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  God protects us from ourselves, our own destructive natures, but we have to do it His way.