Understanding

Understanding
This is an interesting word of inspiration to write about. Understanding doesn’t necessarily mean agreement. Understanding does not mean acceptance. When you explain what you may be going through at any given moment, the person you are sharing with may nod in understanding. However, it doesn’t mean they agree with you. I understand how a child trained a certain way behaves because of the way they were raised. However, that doesn’t mean I accept that it is okay.

Let’s talk about what’s going on in the world today. The mass shooting that has occurred in Orlando, FL of the LGBT club is a tragedy. I understand that the Isis person believes that he is doing the right thing. That Isis believes they are to kill anyone who doesn’t agree with their philosophy. I understand that they believe the United States of America is the enemy. That understanding does not concede that it is okay, that this is the way people should deal with their feelings or beliefs.

I lived quite a bit of my life trying to get others to understand me. As I matured and dealt with the challenges of living this life, I realized that even though others may understand, it doesn’t mean that they necessarily agree or care. Real understanding should motivate compassion. Compassion should then lead to action to help others. True understanding is about having compassion. With all thy getting, get understanding.

The consensus that says “I don’t understand why someone would do destructive and evil things” is not really about not understanding. There is obviously something very wrong. That is a given. What is not understood is the place that the person is coming from that allows them to have no concern for life, it’s value. I believe that knowing God is an intrinsic part of understanding the baseness of humanity. Don’t get me wrong. The debate for baseness is futile because God would have never allowed His Son to die if we were completely all good. There is a baseness that required the ultimate sacrifice. We understand that. What isn’t understood is why the baseness is allowed to take over and the evil becomes the moving force?

I believe the Orlando crisis is a prime example of this. Each individual has a choice of what they want to believe in and that the free will is just that, free. God allows us to use our free will to choose Him. That is why understanding the significance of this is so important. We have the choice to stop moving with any group that goes beyond the safety and value of other human life. These renegade groups misunderstand the free will when it comes to others. They can exercise their free will to follow and participate in what they deem valuable but refuse to allow others the same grace. Evil destruction is not lacking understanding but lacking the care and value for lives other than their own.