If you haven’t noticed, things are getting pretty crazy out there. Revolutions are still going on in Egypt, Libya and Bahrain. The revolution in Syria is turning into an armed conflict. Greece is on the cusp of defaulting and the rest of the European Union is teetering on economic calamity. The British government is censoring YouTube videos of protests in other countries. Student riots have been raging in Chile. The U.S. government is carrying out assassinations without any due-process against its own citizens abroad.
So what is a person to do in this sea of madness?
To put it succinctly, be a force of love in this world.
“Hate is not the opposite of love; apathy is.” Those words by American Psychologist Rollo May should cause one, especially the Christian, to pause.
In Mark 12:31, Jesus is debating with the teachers of the law when he states that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself — what we call the “Golden Rule.” Who is your neighbor? Every single human being on this planet is because you have to live on it with them. In essence, Jesus is calling us, no, commanding us to love everyone. Humanity and the state of humanity must matter to us. If we allow apathy to take hold of our hearts and minds, we fail to uphold one of the cornerstones of our faith. In retrospect, we fail to even uphold the greatest commandment. How can we claim to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength when the condition and affairs of his creations, who are made in his image, do not matter to us?
Quite simply put, to be apathetic is to fail to be a Christian.
The Bible teaches us that God is love. While on this earth, Jesus was God wrapped in humanity — love incarnate. If we are to define sin as an act that separates us from God (who is love), then apathy — which is the opposite of love — is sin. So to be a Christian — to be Christ-like — is to be a vessel of love. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are to become a force of love in this world.
We must become living gospels, proselytizing through our lifestyles and not with our legalism. To reference Micah 6:8, the Lord requires us to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with him — to walk humbly with love. To turn a blind eye to injustice is not to act justly. To be intolerant is not to love mercy. To be self-righteous is not to walk humbly.
So, what are we to do when the world goes mad?
Simply put, we are to be Christ-like.
