Daily we read headlines of trouble and violence, crime and death. Maybe in our own personal lives, there is sorrow, anxiety, and turmoil. Understandably, some people do not like to LISTEN to the news saying, “It’s too depressing.” “There’s nothing good on the news.” “I don’t believe anything the news media says anyway.”
Some people don’t like to TALK about the obvious shaking of our world. “I can’t do anything about it, so why should I care?” “I get too fearful.” “I’d rather talk about our vacation, or the sale at Kohl’s, or who the Vikings are drafting.”
Still others don’t want to face the ACTION we are called to do. “I’m not qualified, and if I were, I wouldn’t know where to begin.” “I’m just one person. What difference can one person make?” “Someone more equipped than I am can do it.”
And so we turn our faces away. We turn a deaf ear. We stick our heads in the sand.
However! We can take action! We can start by LOVING our family. Some may argue, “Love my family? We don’t even eat meals together any more, and if by some remote chance we did eat together, no one would make eye contact. We communicate by texting. I might as well go stick my head in the sand.”
We could TELL others more often of God’s saving grace and His forgiveness of our sins through faith in Jesus Christ. But some may retort, “I’m not trained. Besides, that’s the pastor’s job.”
Why not PRAY for others? “Ha!” comes the response. “My prayers stop at the ceiling, so what’s the point?”
With the seemingly out-of-control darkness swirling around us, and the threat to our very freedom to mention God, or to offer to pray for and with another sojourner, just think what would happen if we take our heads out of the sand? What if we wake up? What if we put on the whole armor of God? Imagine what we could do if we stood firmly in the strength of the Lord? Can you visualize it? Do you feel the surge of hope?
Even though we are in the world, we don’t have to be a part of it’s chaos. We need to flee the darkness. We can come into the light where God’s steadfast love and His mighty strength abound. He is sovereign, and He told us these things would happen, and He is the only One, our Savior, who can and will rescue us. However, we can’t experience His peace, His love, His joy, and the hope of our salvation with our heads in the sand.