I bought a gun the other day!  Made arrangements to attend the Concealed Handgun License class in my area.  I took a “Learn to Shoot” class last week.  My sons were encouraging and my friend (who carries).  However, I felt that I was turning from God’s protection and trying to provide my own.  After I aced the shooting test for the LTS class (I even have the target to prove it!), I began to rethink what I have done. What I  have decided has nothing to do with anyone else.  It is just what I believe God has said to me.

First, if I carry a gun, that means that I am willing to use it at any time for my personal protection.  I am usually alone and so have no one else to protect.  I am not sure that I want to shoot another person just to save myself.  I know when I die, I will be with Jesus.  No loss to me!  Great gain actually.  However, the person I would shoot may not know the Lord (probably wouldn’t know Him) and would not be with Jesus at death.  I’m not comfortable with that. When the 5 missionaries in Peru were confronted with using the gun they had or being killed by the tribe they had come to share Christ with, they chose not to shoot.  I would rather be like them. 

Second, there is always the possibility that I could hurt someone else who is just an innocent bystander.  I would never want to do that either.

Third, for all the years I have lived, I have never been in that kind of situation.  I know it could happen and try to be very vigilant anytime I am out.  But the only way someone could harm me is by going through God’s protective covering over me (Psalm 139:5). If that were allowed, then God would use those events for His glory somehow.  In the devotional I was reading yesterday this scripture was printed:

“A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.” Psalm 68:5 (NKJ)

I think I’ll stand on that.  God is a better defender than a gun.