I am generally not a person of extremes. I tend to think I am rather even-keeled and not prone to extreme sadness or exuberance.  Yet, this morning, I feel such profound sadness.  It’s like a heavy weight that sucks the very breath from me today.  It’s a cloud of tear filled eyes that slowly stain my cheeks.  It’s a forlorn look, an empty stare, a wondering, a lamenting, and underneath it all, a brewing anger at the state of our world, and more specifically, my country. I rarely write from a raw place, but today, it feels like the best place to write from.

How did we get to this place?:

• where a private citizen is assassinated for holding different beliefs
• where a young girl is callously and casually murdered while sitting on a subway with onlookers
• where thousands of people are killed in the name of a false god
• where pedophiles are protected and victims are ignored
• where politicians are murdered in their own homes
• where innocent school children are gunned down in their classrooms
• where politicians are seen as gods
• where poison and profits take precedent over people
• where predators come from within the church
• where schools are no longer a place of education but of social indoctrination
• where pornography is protected
• where certain drug use is legalized
• where politicians become millionaires while in office
• where criminals are set free
• where depression in young adults and adults has increased 60% in a decade
• where demanding answers makes one a lunatic and conspiracy theorist
• where devices have replaced relationships
• where scrolling is the activity of choice
• where abortion is celebrated
• where lies are openly proclaimed as truth
• where we can longer discern what is real
• where there is ‘your truth’ but not ‘the truth’
• where God is the enemy
• where TV, music, and movies are steeped in the demonic

And the list could go on and on.

I think there is one common thread in this entire list: the disregard for life. The disregard for life is a human condition for many. In biblical times people committed horrendous acts to satisfy their idols and false gods. Throughout our history we have seen innocent blood shed and the ill-treatment of people. Slavery.  The Trail of Tears. The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and on and on it goes.

Disregard for life.

As a Christian, I hold to the truth that life is created, unique, and purposeful.  Psalm 139:13 details how God formed us and knitted us together. It’s a beautiful picture of the hands of our Heavenly Father fashioning newly created life with intention. Ephesians 2:10 continues to tell us that we are His workmanship, created to do His good before our formation. Jeremiah 1:5 reminds us that before He formed us, He knew us. We were created with purpose. The Lord regarded our lives as so special that He himself formed them. My creation by God reaffirms that God has me here, in this time, at this place, for His purpose.  The same is for you.

But to a world where God is seen as the enemy, where creation came at the hands of randomness and chance, life is viewed as nothing more than a coagulated group of cells formed and growing by biological processes created by happenstance. With this view of life, how can it be sacred? How can it be treasured?  How can it be regarded at all?

The disregard for life breeds callousness, coldness, and leads to a lonely self-absorbed existence. It makes it possible for unthinkable atrocities to be committed. And as these atrocities are played out in real time for all the world to see in graphic ways, the disregard and numbness only grows with every quick glance and scroll upward.  In the same breath you can check out the latest fashion trends, watch the death of a man, and then nonchalantly text a friend about their new shoes all while never allowing the gravity, heinousness, or calculating nature of the event to ever permeate the heart or mind.

Numbness is dangerous. When a limb goes numb, there is no feeling.  When the heart and mind grow numb, there is also no feeling. There is no feeling regarding our fellow man.  No feeling regarding common decency.  No feeling of urgency to come to the aid of those in need.  No feeling of empathy, sympathy or pathos. No guttural reaction to wrong. No instantaneous reflex to protect, preserve, and save. No moral compass.  No consequential thinking.  No sound judgement. Just numbness.

Numbness breeds disregard.

The sadness of this week and all the events surrounding it will fade. The heaviness will lighten, but what will be your response to it? Will you cower? Will you forget? Will you keep a closed mouth? Will you opt for self-preservation over boldly standing up for what is right? Or will you become numb and continue to scroll on?

I serve a mighty God – the creator of all. The One True God. And while my mind cannot always understand the ways of God, I will stand all the more boldly in my faith. Man-made solutions to evil will never suffice. The hearts of man need to be captured, remade, and restored. Lasting change comes only from a heart changed by God. Man needs God. And that does not mean a forced religion, a legislated faith, or a few spoken words of appeasement. Man needs to grapple with their sin nature, see it for what it is, and be introduced to the One who can restore them and heal their brokenness.  Man needs a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

So friends, be bold. Fear not. For the Lord your God is on your side.  He will give you boldness to speak. Pray for our nation, but also be moved to action.