Osama.

Hi you all!! Hope your weekends were fantastic! In light of the death of Osama bin Laden, I thought I would share with you all some thoughts on it. It seems that there are so many opinions being thrown around about this subject. My friend Lauren addressed the topic so beautifully in her blog. Check out what she wrote:

I’ve been seeing a lot of tweets about Osama bin Laden’s death tonight.

Some people are ecstatic about the fact that he is dead. The majority of the Christians that I follow on twitter have been tweeting about the fact that it’s inappropriate to rejoice in the fact that bin Laden is now, and forever will be, in hell. They’ve been quoting Proverbs 24:17: “Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice.” And yes, I agree with that. Osama bin Laden’s eternal fate is sealed and my heart breaks for the fact that even such a man will spend an eternity without God. And I realize that Christ died to forgive all sins, even great ones like those bin Laden committed, if he had chosen to believe in Christ for the forgiveness of his sins. I know too that I am a sinner Christ died to save just like Osama bin Laden. “But for the grace of God, there go I.” I deserve the lovingkindness of a Savior just as much as Osama does.

But to only consider that and to simply feel sad for a man like bin Laden is not considering the other characteristics of God. Yes, God is loving and longs for all of us to come to him, but he is also a God of justice. The fact remains that bin Laden was a man who desired to cause the death of many, many innocent people. He was the founder of al-Qaeda and was in great part responsible for the attack on the U.S. on September 11th. (I wrote a post last year about 9/11.) He was a man who proved that he was capable of committing great evil. He hurt many families and caused one of the greatest national catastrophes known to this generation. The greatness of his sins demanded justice. Though rejoicing in bin Laden’s eternal destiny in hell is of course inappropriate, it is more than appropriate to realize that the sins he committed against God and no one else have been punished, and in God’s perfect timing no less. It is appropriate to rejoice in the fact that our God is just and his will has been done regarding Osama bin Laden. It is appropriate to be happy that one of America’s greatest threats to national security and a strong symbol of the fact that terrorism is still alive is now gone.

Be sure tonight while you think about your response to the death of Osama bin Laden that you are balanced in your view of the character of God. Consider his love for all people, yes, but also consider the justice of our great God and the perfection of his will for history.