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What Do They See In Us?
I saw a graphic today that said, "I've just turned off the news and put on a serial killer documentary to relax". Now we know that is said tongue and cheek, but there is a ring of reality to it isn't there? I thought I'd comment on it, just to remind us who we are!
For many of the years of my life, things in the news shocked me. We would hear of people doing appalling or disgusting or horrifying things, and just be blown away that somebody could do such a thing. I still am, but I'll admit, nothing really amazes me anymore. People just do bad things, and it has become so common place that the sting has sort of gone out of it.
But bad is still bad, horrific is still horrific, and these things ought to still grab our attention in such a way that we have compassion for the victims, sympathy for those adversely affected, and even a desire to pray for the perpetrator(s) involved.
Not to spend any time digging into it, but I think the terroristic acts on 9-11 really changed how our minds process these stories of bad news. Maybe not only 9-11, but the news media's repetition when such things happen, and maybe having the world in the palm of our hands now at the touch of a button contributes to our attitude as well because we see it all, and there is a lot to see. I think we, speaking at least for myself, have become a little numb to it all.
God still wants us to pray for those hurting. He wants us to help them if we are in a position to. He wants us to still feel sadness and righteous anger when bad people do bad things, and not just chalk it up to another day with a "whatever" attitude. We still need to the be pacesetters as the example for our world because we are supposed to be acting like Jesus, trying to imitate Him who taught peace and kindness. We know He opposes these types of behavior, and we should not just let them drift through our lives without concern either.
So today, just a booster shot for us all. "Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." Col 3:12-14
In the verses leading up to this passage, Paul is telling Christians how to live because we are children of the Heavenly King, and he lists so many sinful things that our world participates in that we are to abstain from. Our world needs to see us as being unified as Christians, loving and forgiving, behaving as those who respect others and treating them as we want to be treated. We must continue to do this so that they may see the way God desires all men to live, and hopefully our Christ like examples will convict them to make changes in their own lives.
