Thinking About What We Say

Some of you may have read in the news about the death of Chris Kyle, a Navy Seal sniper who served in Iraq. Events like these are always tragic, but especially so whenever veterans die on home soil by the hand of a fellow citizen. However, I think we should be careful how we respond. **Just a word of warning, one of the following quotes contains strong profanity.**

I first started thinking on this after reading a couple of companies responses to Chris Kyle’s death. The two quotes taken together impressed upon me the power that our words can have, and reminded me that we can tell a lot about a person by what they say. Here is the first of the two quotes that started me thinking:

 

“Godspeed Chris Kyle. WTF is going on in this damned country?” 

I will admit that I initially felt anger similar to that of this writer after reading the story of Chris Kyle’s murder, but anger is rarely the right response, and cursing out your own country is certainly not (1 Peter 2:13-14). Yes, Chris Kyle was killed by a fellow American. He was killed by a fellow veteran who may have been suffering from PTSD. Did the individual in quote 1 know this? Did he realize that he was chewing out another veteran, one who –even though this doesn't make his actions right –was probably suffering from the psychological aftereffects of taking part in war to defend America’s freedom? Instead of cussing out our country –and therein the brave men and women who defend it –I believe that a more appropriate and God centered response can be found in the following quote from company #2:

“Pray for the Family and Friends Of Fallen Soldier Chris Kyle. God Rest His Soul.” 

Though I often struggle to do this, prayer is always an appropriate response to tragedy. Here it would be a prayer for comfort and saving grace for Chris Kyle’s family and friends as they go through this difficult time. A proper response does not include cursing the man who did this, but rather we should pray for his healing, both spiritual and physical, just as Christ prayed for the forgiveness of the Jews even as they raised Him up (Luke 23:34a).

We should be careful how we respond to these events as Christians because what we do and say will be seen by the world and connected by them to who we stand for: Jesus Christ. If we cuss out others, people will see that and identify it with Christ. I know that I struggle with, and often fail to, respond properly in different situations. I found this quote by Chris Kyle very moving, and I think that it can be applied to believers as well:

“What keeps me up at night is not the people that I have killed. It is the people I wasn’t able to save.” ~Chris Kyle 

Although we as Christians know that we cannot save anybody in and of ourselves, I also know that I haven’t lost as much sleep over not giving a Christ-like response to somebody as I should.

I don’t know if Chris Kyle was a Christian, or if his friends and family are believers, but we should be praying for them. And we should also be praying for the man who committed this crime. We should respond in a manner that brings glory to Christ our Savior’s name.

Rest in Peace Chris Kyle,

Joseph M.

Credits:

New York Times (although you can find the story from any main news outlet).