on Ray and Janay Rice

  I bet there is no doubt that you have heard of the incident involving Ray and Janay Rice last February and then watched as it resurfaced in September after TMZ released the video from that fateful night. Ray has been cleared to play in the NFL again once he is signed by another team. However, there is much to learn and discuss from Rice's actions that we as Christians can learn from.
1) Peace, love, and unity should rule our actions and our thoughts.
  This can be hard at times because during the course of our daily existence we find many people who irritate us, disagree with us, and often flat out wrong us. It is not easy to live this out by any stretch of the imagination, and the even trickier part is that Jesus in the gospels proclaimed that he did not come to bring peace but division. (Luke 12:51) However, Paul goes on to say that Jesus preached peace to those who were far and near (Ephesians 2:17) and we need to keep every effort for the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3)
  The question remains what division is Jesus talking about? Well, my thought which is not dogmatic mind you, is that the division Jesus brought was between those who sought to follow Him with their entire lives and those who would rather stay in their own sin. Jesus' life and teaching is a wonderful example toward what we should all strive to emulate: peace and love toward all. Rice's actions back in February were wrong. I don't know the whole story or the interchange that led up to the punch, but I do know that since then he has married his fiancee, pledged to be a better husband and father, and has been disciplined for his actions. I applaud Rice for his recognition of the wrong and desire to learn and become better. Paul shares these challenging words that the body of Christ needs to remember at all times,   "32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." (Ephesians 4:32)
2) It's an Issue of the Heart: first and foremost.
  One of the big things we have seen in Ray Rice in the days and months after the event has been a change of heart. Incidents of violence both in actions and words are indicators of what is already present in our hearts to begin with. Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:8 that whatever is true, right, noble, pure, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy we need to think of such things. This Advent season take a good hard luck at the games you play on your phone or tablet, take a good look at the music you listen to, the friends you have, the places you visit, etc. And ask yourself are these things excellent and pure? Trustworthy and noble? Now, I'm not about to say that anyone who listens to music that doesn't fall under those categories will strike a spouse or loved one, but what I want you to think about is the ultimate goal of your life: becoming closer to Jesus.
  Ask yourself this Advent season is how I'm living bringing myself and others closer or further away from Jesus. We as Christians need to celebrate that Rice has taken steps to seek forgiveness and reconciliation with his wife.
3) Be a voice for the Janay Rices who don't have a voice.
  If we learn anything from this situation it's that domestic violence is not an isolated incident there are many women and children in our society who won't be able to get the help or attention because they aren't in a similar position that Janay Rice is in. Christian author and speaker Tony Campolo reminds us that The true measure of whether you are really a Christian or not is whether your heart breaks for the things that break Jesus' heart. 
This Advent season look to pray for those less fortunate in your community, donate old clothes to clothing ministries in churches, volunteer at a soup kitchen, ask your pastor or ministry leader how to get involved, raise awareness, and know that there are many people who may not always be hurting from domestic violence, but our hurting from hunger, illness, poverty, and we as Jesus' followers can do something about that. We are reminded powerfully just who God cares about in Deuteronomy 10:18, "18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing."
Our hearts and prayers continue to go out to the Rice family, and we pray that they would see this past year as an amazing opportunity to raise support and awareness in the ongoing fight to end domestic violence.