Are you sitting down? Are you comfortable?
Good. Because I think we should talk.
When is the last time you took a second to sit down and look
at the world? When is the last time you sat and considered what’s going on,
where you’re at, and just how things really are?
When is the last time you took your eyes off of your phone,
tablet or 42” HD television to really pay attention?
So many of us are lost in our safe little world. While there
may be water in our basement, we have a roof over our heads. While we may have
had to take the long way to work, many of us are still earning a paycheck. And when
we don’t have a job, we are fortunate enough to live in a country where our government
and other organizations try to meet our needs.
When we may be lost or down on our luck, we have programs to
help us find our way. We can go to a church. We can go to a mosque or temple.
We don’t even have to have a religion. We can see a doctor. We can call or text
our friends. We can choose the type of news we want to hear.
We can do just about what we want…for the most part.
Here in our world, things are pretty good. Imagine living in
a world nothing. like. that.
On our side of the world, America is mourning the loss of an entertainment legend. We
don’t understand how a man who made so many people feel so happy could take his
own life. We can’t fathom how someone who seemed to have so much of everything
could take his own life. We all seem to grieve in some shape or form as we
recall the first time we saw him in a TV show or movie.
Behind the scenes, he was in pain. No one really knows what
it was. But in his lifetime he battled addictions to substances just so like so
many people around us. A sad story involving a funny man, and our world mourns.
While I’m not discounting the loss, the tragedy of suicide
or his impact on our country, it’s sad that on the other side of this small
world so many other people are losing their lives with such little fanfare.
Some might even consider taking their own lives rather than face the death that
seems to await them in the Middle East.
As much as I can’t imagine a pain so deep that taking my own life seems to be an answer, I can’t imagine fleeing for my life. I can’t imagine fleeing to save my wife and kids from the threat of death, rape, and torture. I can’t imagine running to the mountains without food or water, essentially choosing to die a slow death to avoid the evil that awaits me down the mountain.
I can’t imagine throwing my children off of a mountain to
their death in order to keep them from being killed, crucified or beheaded.
Try to imagine being marked with a symbol that tells someone
you’re a Christian which is essentially a death sentence.
Try as I might, I cannot imagine it.
I can’t imagine having to choose to renounce my faith or
have to pay a fine or face death.
I can’t imagine being thankful for planes flying over me
dropping food, water and supplies to me while all it’s really doing is
sustaining me while the bad guys still wait for me…with no one trying to stop
them.
Try to imagine a world like that.
Try to imagine waking up and leaving your family in search
for food not knowing if that might be the last time you hug or kiss them.
Try to imagine trying to find a place to pray to your God
without the threat of the follower of another religion looking to end your
life.
Try to imagine knowing there are a people on the other side
of the world who could do something about it but don’t.
Try to imagine knowing that for the better part of a century
these people stood up for the weak and the helpless, and told the evildoers
they’d gone too far.
Try to imagine knowing that there is real news to tell, but it’s
not being told.
Try to imagine the same people that could help me are tied
up in their sports, recreation and entertainment to even hear what is going on.
Are you still comfortable?
See, while we complain about our weather here. While we
complain about a baseball team that isn’t playing as well as we’d like. While
we worry about buying our school supplies, someone just needs a drink of water.
While we worry what we’re going to wear or eat, there are people on the other
side of the world trying to sleep knowing this could be their last night.
Isn’t that uncomfortable?
While we can argue about all the sins of America, our
greatest sin may be our comfort.
We’re too comfortable to care. I mean, it’s the other side
of the world, right?
It’s the Middle East. They’ve never gotten along. We shouldn’t
have gone in the first place.
When it’s country against country, I may agree. But when it’s
an ideology that says you don’t believe the same way as me, you must die….that’s
evil. And we should never stand for evil
It’s been said that a man who doesn’t stand for something
will fall for anything. And the same can be said for our country. It seems we
no longer stand for anything. Peace and success have cost us our strength.
We stand in line for new phones. We stand in line for the
latest move release.
We stand and cheer our millionaire celebrities and athletes.
We stand with fellow Americans who announce their lifestyle
choice.
We stand with immigrants who illegally walk across our
borders.
We stand with those who want to save the trees.
We stand with those who want to save the whales.
But we won’t stand with people who face the end of their
life for no other reason than they believe in Jesus Christ.
I don’t care what belief system you adhere to, you can’t be
comfortable with what’s going on. You don't even have to have a belief system. You can't be comfortable with it.
And the longer this world lets it fester, the longer its
allowed to go unchallenged, the greater the evil becomes.
There is a famous Edmund Burke quote that says “All that is necessary for the triumph of
evil is that good men do nothing.”
Friends, the things going on over there are evil. Imagine it
getting worse if we do nothing.
BUT, Imagine an America that finds its strength and remembers its
place in history.
Imagine politicians that stop politicking and quit worrying about the November elections.
Imagine having leaders lead; leaders who step up and say if no one else will fight for you, we’ll fight for you
Imagine a guardian coming to their defense and putting an
end to the atrocities.
Imagine a country that puts aside its selfish lusts,
passions and addictions for the cause of helping people who just want to live.
Imagine people who pray for the safety, protection and
freedom of the oppressed.
Imagine churches that remember God.
Imagine Christians praying…and not just for themselves and
their needs.
Imagine a sleeping giant waking up.
Imagine a fire burning so great it cannot be contained.
Imagine a miracle.
Can you only imagine?
