Have we forgotten about people?
This is a troubling time in our world – acts of aggression
or terror are almost the new norm. I can’t stand reading the news. When I pull
up CNN, NBC, ABC, FOX, or any other news source, I’m greeted with macabre
descriptions of unthinkable, appalling acts taking place in every country
across the globe. Children are being raped and killed. Families are devastated.
Stray bombshells are taking out innocent bystanders. Places and events that
should be an enjoyable escape from daily pressures are being destroyed by
active shooting. I’m afraid for our world. I grieve over the depravity. I look
out over the world, and it seems very bleak. Where is the joy?
I also can hardly stand my Facebook feed recently. With each
new tragedy, people are opportunistically turning each aggressive act into a platform
for their pet issue. Gun rights people say, “See, even a country with strict
gun control like France has a mass shooting, so gun control won’t solve any
problems.” Gun control people say, “If we crack down on gun control, we’ll
reduce the number of mass shootings – it’s basic math. Fewer guns out there
mean fewer shootings.” I’m so done with it. Listen, I understand that something
has to give. I know that current events mean that laws may need to adapt to
changing times. I know that the “other side” makes you mad with their uncanny
knack for seeing the same tragedy you do from a different point of view.
Francis Schaeffer wrote in his book, How
Should We Then Live? ”When freedom destroys order, the yearning for order
will destroy freedom.” Maybe it’s time for a little less freedom in order to
restore order. I don’t know what the answer is. I do know that I’m tired of
this.
My heart is broken. When did we forget people in this mess?
You know that idiot who wrote the diatribe that stepped on your toes and made
you angry? S/he is a person - a real person, complete with ideals, dreams, and
feelings. The Syrian refugees? They are real people who are running from
horrible terror and persecution. Those who are afraid of letting the refugees
into our country? They are real people who are feeling the very human, very
understandable emotion of fear. You know
the victims of all of these mass shootings that are happening right now? Yep.
People. People who will never get to fulfill those dreams they dreamed. People
who leave behind – you guessed it – more people. They leave behind families and
friends who will always have giant scars on their hearts that will never quite
heal. I cry for the mothers who will never again hold their children in their
arms, for the lovers who will never again meet in this life, for the children
who close their eyes at night to nightmares of their parents being gunned down.
These people are suffering deeply. Even the perpetrators of these horrible
events are people. They are people who are ill, radicalized, misguided, or yes,
purely wicked. They must be stopped, but they are still people. Even though we
all feel that something must change and that all of this must end, let’s not put
issues in front of people.
You see, in a time when some are set on ending physical
lives, so many of us seem to be in the business of cutting people so deeply
with our words that they may never recover. It seems especially bad right now,
because we’re in the middle of presidential election frenzy here in the United
States – while all of these horrific events are taking place around the world.
We want a president who will keep us safe, and we all have different ideas
about what that looks like. The stakes are high, the tension is thick, and the
nerves are raw. Maybe it’s time for everyone to take a social media hiatus
until the dust clears.
I want to take a minute to talk to Christians in the United
States now. If you’re not a Christian or if you are not from the United States,
you’re welcome to continue reading of course, but I’m going to address this
next portion specifically to Christians in the United States.
Christians – I think we’ve gotten a little confused. In a
country where freedom is valued above all, we’ve lost our way. We value our
freedom to speak our minds, to worship freely, to exercise church, family, and
personal autonomy, the tax exempt status of our churches, and so many other
freedoms. Along the way, we’ve become fragmented, and have forgotten the ways
that Jesus said the world would know us. In John 17, Jesus prayed for Christian
unity – that our unity would be one of the ways that the world would know we
were from Him. Do you know what the world sees now when it looks on Christian faith?
Dissention. Church splits. People who can’t agree. Instead of shining the light
of Christ, we are placing it under a basket with our argumentativeness. The
answer to all that is wrong in the world is Christ – but the people who wear
His name are hiding Him in their tight grasp on religious freedom, their fear,
and their arguments. Please, let’s stop obscuring Christ with our fighting.
Remember that that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against
the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness,
against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians
6:12).
Also, Christians – Jesus said that everyone who follows
after him will suffer. And our suffering with Him is another way that the world
can know Him. When we suffer the way He suffered, we look like Him. We demonstrate in a tangible, unforgettable way
that our hope is somewhere else, that it is real, and that is in something far
greater than our suffering. Why are we so focused on our freedoms here in the
United States? Rather, focus your energies on being like Christ – on bolstering
your faith so that you can suffer for His name. If we are like Him, we will
suffer. (Let me say briefly that preparing to suffer does NOT mean developing a
thick skin and a sharp tongue – it means becoming meek – ready to look at the
one who hurts you with love, letting them see Christ in your eyes. How did
Christ suffer? Learn to suffer with the same grace in you). I sometimes wonder
if, when Satan saw that he couldn’t defeat the Way with persecution, he thought
to himself, “I know how to ruin Christ – I’ll make it easy to claim
Christianity. That way, people will flock to the title of Christian. Those
whose hearts and lives are really changed by Christ’s Spirit will get lost in
the throng of those who pay lip service, and the world will define Christian by
the masses. Christ will be obscured by the very people who claim to bear His
name. Genius.” It’s scary to think about. Stop obscuring the name of Christ. Be
like Him. Shine His light – not your pet issues or doctrines – out into the
bleak darkness of a world filled with hopeless violence and aggression. Suffer
for His name. Be proven Real for the sake of the true gospel. Live the good
news.
