Lebanon (MNN) — An Israeli strike killed a Hezbollah field commander in southern Lebanon on Monday. This tit-for-tat fire between Israel and the Lebanese terrorist group is just one piece in the increasingly fractured Middle East.
“Lebanon and the region is a place where injustice rules, if I may say. It’s been like that for years and decades and centuries. The cycle of violence, the cycle of hatred, the cycle of despair, is never-ending,” says Elio Constantine with Heart for Lebanon.
“The only solution to break the cycle is through Christ, and Christ alone.”
Heart for Lebanon believes that when our relationship with God our Creator is broken, it creates a playground for the devil to bring injustice to the world. But there is a biblical solution.
“If we want to talk about how to deal with this injustice, and how to approach it from a biblical justice point of view, the simple answer is ‘Restore our relationship with God,’” Constantine says.
Heart for Lebanon builds trusting relationships with families from diverse ethnicities and faiths.
“We work with traditional Christian backgrounds, with Muslim backgrounds, with Lebanese families, with Syrian families, with Kurdish families — all these families that have been preconditioned to hate each other and be scared of each other,” Constantine says.
Heart for Lebanon’s focus on holistic, relational, and unconditional ministry allows believers to reach and engage Syrian refugees in a relationship.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Heart for Lebanon)
The team shows them God’s love, which opens the way for many heart-level questions.
“When these questions start to be answered from Scripture, it all starts making sense to them that ‘We have been taught that we’re enemies, but really, we’re not. The enemy is making us believe that we’re enemies,’” Constantine says.
“All that work has led to two beautiful worship gatherings, turned to churches in the south of Lebanon and the Beqaa. On Sunday morning, you will see that mosaic of different people really just being one.”
Praise God for growing unity in these two churches. Would you pray for more heart transformation like this in the Middle East? Pray that God will use Heart for Lebanon to spread His love and reconciliation to many people in the region.
Header photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon.
