Light in the Darkness

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.