Devo 41

9/16/01

"In the Face of Tragedy"

What a week. It's interesting, under other circumstances I would be tempted to say that this week at work was probably the hardest I've ever had, but an incident of this magnitude can't help but put everything in a different perspective. I feel fortunate that I wasn't directly impacted by Tuesday's tragedy, but I can't get past the feeling that people will have died in vain if I remain unchanged. Whether it's a drastic lifestyle change, or just a new awareness, it wouldn't feel right to go on like nothing had happened.

Spiritual issues have come to the forefront this last week. Suddenly prayer is on everyone's lips. Suddenly, people who had never given God a second thought find themselves crying out to Him for help or comfort. Suddenly, on Friday, Billy Graham is given the opportunity to preach the gospel to literally millions of people in America and around the World. Suddenly people are saying, "What can I do to help?" And suddenly, Christians the world over who had been praying for an opportunity to witness or be a comfort for someone have been given that chance.

So we've been given a chance, now what? What can we do? Are you a Christian? Then be yourself. Continue on each day being the kind of Christ-follower you have been since the day you first believed. Be the salt that drives out corruption, be the light that brings life, be the person God created you to be. Be the image-bearer of God. I doubt many, if any, of us have ever seen a time where people are so attuned to spiritual matters. Something needs to be found that shed some light on what happened this week. We can't stand to live in a world where meaningless acts of violence can happen at random; there has to be someone in control of it all. There has to be some perspective from which all of this makes sense. As Christians we don't have to be afraid of things that happen in this world, "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers , nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38,39)

Imagine how people reacted in Noah's day, before and after the flood began. Before the flood Noah was being made fun of; who ever heard of building a boat in the desert? But what about after the flood started, suddenly a boat was exactly what everyone wanted. Or imagine that in your town suddenly all the water dried up except for your faucet? I'm sure you'd make a lot of new friends in pretty short order. I think the situation is similar today. With so many people suddenly looking for something to fill that spiritual emptiness, they will naturally notice those who are spiritually full.

I don't want to give the impression that I think we're looking at the beginning of the end here. Maybe we are, or maybe we aren't. But whatever the case, I think there is enormous potential for God to be glorified in and through us as a result of last Tuesday's attack. And as Christian's, I can't think of a time in my life when we've had such an opportunity to spread Christ's love.

"But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'" Matthew 9:36

If nothing else, let the events of this week remind you that this world is shifting constantly, but only on the rock of Jesus can we stand firm. Have your daily quiet times become weekly (monthly?) quiet times? Has your prayer life become nothing more that short memorized homilies before meals or bedtime? Maybe what someone you or I know most needs to see right now is a Christian wholeheartedly seeking God and His direction. Inevitably as the weeks and months go by, the emotions and convictions stirred up this week will slowly fade. But I pray (and I pray this for myself too) that this week will see the fires begin to glow once more in all our hearts.