People are constantly looking for answers to crime. I hear cries for police and politicians to find solutions. The truth is that police and politicians can’t stop crime.

Politicians and leaders can ONLY MAKE laws.

Police can ONLY ENFORCE the law.

But neither can make anyone obey the law. Neither can instill the character, integrity, self-control, discipline, respect for the lives, property and opinions of others necessary to reduce or cure crime. Even God Himself watched His people struggle with trying to live up to the standards of the Law, but the Law’s purpose is define right and wrong, to give us boundaries and God’s standards. God Himself gives us the responsibility and power to ‘do the right things’. God has a cure for crime, and it’s really simple…
1. Submit to His will
2. Let His love rule in your heart (let love be the filter for your decisions)
3. Walk in His Spirit
4. Learn to Control Our Emotions

(1) God’s will always puts what’s best for us first, so submitting to His compels us to always do what’s best for one another…

Philippians 2:3 tells us to…

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit and to esteem others better than himself. It’s God’s will that we put others first.

(2) When we allow love to be the filter through which every decision is made, we will not do anything to harm our neighbors…

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 eloquently describes the behavior and character of love…

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[a] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

(3) When we walk in the Spirit, it makes it more difficult to follow through on the urges of our flesh that can lead to crime, as Galatians 5:16 makes very clear…

Galatians 5:16  (ESV)

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

(4) I feel that EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE is the most powerful tool God has given us to cure crime. Psychology Today defines Emotional Intelligence as the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others. This is behavioral science that is in perfect harmony with scripture…

Colossians 3:5-7 (NKJV)

5 Therefore PUT TO DEATH your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 8 But now YOU YOURSELVES ARE TO PUT OFF all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth

1 Peter 2:1 (NKJV)

So PUT AWAY all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

Ephesians 4:31 (NKJV)

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander BE PUT AWAY from you, along with all malice.

Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV)

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, LET US LAY ASIDE EVERY WEIGHT, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

God commands that WE OURSELVES lay aside, put away, put off, and put to death those things that cause us to stumble.

Most crime comes from a failure to control emotions…

Anger

Lust

Jealousy

Depression

Boredom

Greed

Even apathy leads to sins of omission. Stop and think of various crimes and how they can be linked back to an emotion. We must facilitate cultures of emotional control for crime to reduce. Police can’t do it, Politicians can’t do it, Marches can’t do it…only submitting to God will solve our crime problem. Laws makes our MINDS aware of ‘right and wrong’, but change comes from the HEART.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

Most people who grew up in or around church, or were raised with a belief in God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, or those who have come from unbelief to belief will all quickly proclaim, “I love God!”

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But, do you love Him? Or do just feel it’s the right to say? You may even be afraid not to say it. Which is a healthy fear and reverence of God, but still isn’t love.

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When you love someone, you want to be in their presence as much as possible, in fact you look forward to it. When you love someone you want to know what’s important to them. When you love someone you don’t want to hurt them, intentionally or unintentionally.

When you love someone you want to grow closer to them. When you love someone, you enjoy talking about them. Many people when they are honest with themselves love their favorite team, their car, their guns, their _____________ more than they love God because that’s what they love talking about.

When you love someone you aren’t afraid to show affection for them in public. I’m not talking about kissing…I’m talking about holding their hand, hugging them…you aren’t ashamed to let the world know you love them. Some of the same people who get hoarse at a ball game are ashamed to praise God publicly even in worship. Too many Christians are too ashamed to even bless their food in public. Are you ashamed to lift up your hands in public and say ,“Hallelujah, I love you LORD!” Or, are you afraid people with think you’re crazy. Do you reason that, “It doesn’t take all of that to love God”.  But, when you love someone, you aren’t concerned with what is minimal or necessary. You’re more than happy to do what is ‘extra’ for them

When you love someone you aren’t just in relationship with them for what you can get out of them. You aren’t just in the relationship for the benefits. When you love someone you can talk to them for hours. How often do you talk to God and fellowship with Him prayer, just because it’s peaceful…not asking for anything, just spending quality time with Him?

When you love someone, you love listening to ‘mood’ music with them. You love listening to music that makes you feel closer to one another. You love sharing ‘your song’. I’m not saying you have to listen to Christian music all of the time, but I wonder how many Christians are perfectly comfortable never listening to some form of Gospel music…except when they are in church.

When you really love someone, what they think about you matters to you more than anyone else in the world. You want their love…their respect…their devotion…their affection.

How can one really love God and either never, seldom or randomly read His word? God knows we have the opportunity to fellowship with Him in His word whenever they please. Many claim they don’t have time, but that’s simply not true. Many people, when their honest with themselves, love social media, their favorite fiction or non fiction book, or whatever else they love to do in their spare time more than they love the word of God. What’s the first thing you check each morning? Your social media? The news? The weather? Your horoscope? Or, God’s ‘status’ and what He has ‘posted’ in His word.

It’s in His word we fellowship with Him. It’s in His word we find out what pleases Him. It’s in His word that we find out what He loves and what He hates. His word gives us both comfort and correction.

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When you love someone, living to please them is not a burden, but a blessing…

1 John 5:3  (NKJV)

³ For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

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I challenge you today to ask yourself, “Do I really love God, or is it just the right thing to say”. Yes, you believe in Him. Yes, you fear Him. Yes, you respect Him. Yes, you reverence Him. Yes, you pray. Yes, You, go to church…

But do you love Him?

And finally, think about this…

Most people quickly claim that want to go to heaven or live eternally in His presence, but I contend that if you don’t genuinely enjoy reading His word, fellowshipping with Him, worshiping Him, being in His presence, even going to church now, what makes you think you will want to do it forever?

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Remember, real love isn’t just state, it’s demonstrated…

Romans 5:8  (NKJV)

⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

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BE BLESSTIFIED!