i’ve been wrestling with some of my thoughts lately…
I realize how much drama we create for ourselves in our lives. We love tension. Atheists fighting with Christians. Christian fighting Christians. Theological debates. Philosophical fist fights. Girlfriend boyfriend drama. Life is boring so i’ll do something to spice things up drama. Tension. We love it and we hate it.
Then i flip to the National Geographic channel, and I watch the amateur video recordings of the Tsunamis that took place in Japan just weeks ago.
What was going through their minds as this is happening?
“This is hopeless”
“It all ends”
” I give up.”
And yet all the Japanese people came together, helping each other climb walls to get to higher safer ground.
At that point, the drama of their days was gone. At that moment, the things that held their life together vanished, homes, cars, relatives, photos, ipods, computers, cellphones, television, notebooks, journals. bibles.
At that point, the question, “Why do i exist?” “Why am i here for?” makes so much more sense. When all the luxuries and commodities of life is taken what is left?
I thought to myself, if i was in the middle of that tsunami and there was an angry atheist, or a muslim, or someone who was offended by my christianity, and they were reaching up for my hand so i can make them climb to safety, would i reach down and grab them even if we disagree?
if I would do that for someone that was closer and closer to being torn away by the a physical destruction, would it make more sense to have this sense of urgency for all those around us that are walking in sin, spiritually dead and not even knowing it?
we can dialogue all the time. We can have theological discussions and discrepancies in our circles. We can even have 5 hour long debates with angry atheists who think Christians and all religions are irrational and the scum of society.
But the Gospel of Christ is so powerful and so simple that even a 5 year old can understand, receive it and mature in the Lord even at that age.
Some of us are sitting at the computer right now reading this post. I wonder if we have prayed for the divine appointments God has set up for us today.
I wonder how many of us can quote Calvin and Spurgeon and talk about Mark Driscoll or Matt Chandler, but still have trouble getting into spiritual conversations with the people around us?
Have we lost the sense of urgency to share this Good News with those around us because we think that we or they have more time to live? But then again, we never know when we will die or if the person sitting next to us on the train, bus, plane is going to pass from this life into next.
if we are to be lighthouses in the darkness, we need to empowered by the Spirit and we must heed to the calling of the Spirit who has called each and everyone of us to go into the world, our local communities, our schools, our workplace and make disciples.
Why does it take disaster for people to actually wake up from their dream-like worldview that they’ve created in their mind? I pray that we are able to reach people for Christ, giving them the Gospel of redemption and restoration before another 9/11, hurricane katrina, haiti, Japan even happens.
