The events that unfolded on the other side of the world last week have left none of us untouched.
We have all been changed. Yes – changed. When hundreds of people were attacked as they went about their normal lives… it is just too much. The holidays are coming, and the whole world is supposed to be caught up in the joy and merriment of life, but we are rocked by the reality of cruel death.
Our conversations haven’t just been changed by these events, our hearts… our hearts feel as if they won’t ever be the same again.
Because we have been reminded again that evil is real. Very real.
No matter how determined we are to go about our daily lives – going to our jobs and taking our children to school and paying our bills and talking with our friends and caring for our families – we cannot hide from the reality that evil is alive and continues to breed fear while we do our best to ignore it.
There is no surer proof of this than innocent lives targeted and taken – for the very purpose of unleashing terror.
But as the whole world stands up slowly, each of us checking ourselves to make sure that we are okay, reminding ourselves that we are still breathing, and determining in our hearts that each breath won’t be stolen by this fear, we remember the far greater Truth proven by such horrible events.
If there is evil… then there must also surely be good.
Because one thing darkness does is cause us to look for Light. It propels us forward as we do everything we can to climb out of the shadows.
And as the world responds to last week’s events and the events that will surely unfold in the weeks and months ahead, we reach out in faith across lines that previously divided us.
And we remember that the only true Hope we have to overcome the darkness is in the shining of every good Light.
Maybe you’re feeling like there is nothing you can do. Maybe the weight of the world’s heartache seems like too much, and you are wondering how we can begin to make a difference… a real difference among all the pain and suffering.
And maybe that is when we decide together that the very least we can do is shine our Light. Maybe the very least we can do is refuse to let the darkness consume us and those around us. Maybe now is the moment that we declare –
I will not be crippled by fear.
I will not be consumed by terror.
I will not let the actions of a group of people determine how I feel about those who still need our help.
I will not live in the shadows of “what if.”
I will stand on the promise that Jesus is the Light of the World – that Jesus alone is the Hope of all of humanity.
And I will declare with every breath that I believe He is still the coming King.
If you wonder what you can do to make the biggest impact? Stop letting the fear of what others will think of your faith stop you from sharing it – because soon will come a day when there will be things that are far scarier than reaching out to a lost friend.
We can begin here. Right here. We change the world that is right around us – today.
You are more powerful than you know, because the same power that rose Jesus from the grave LIVES inside of you. And if we let that power love those around us – through us? If we let that power save, and redeem, and heal those who need Him most – through us? We will see the change the world has been waiting for.
What can we do now? What can we do to make a difference?
Shine Light, friend. It is the only way to defeat the darkness.
“In him [Jesus] was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:4-5
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