I Don't Even Want to Know...

I don't even want to know...  


It's a phrase we hear all too often.  We clean our rose colored glasses with the phrase.  It's much easier to not know than to admit we live in a less than perfect world.  If we admitted our world wasn't perfect our moral compass would direct us to get involved and help change it.  Getting involved is messy, painful and sometimes even dangerous.  We can't enter into the witness protection program when we receive backlash for standing up to a popular bully.  As long as you aren't the one getting bullied, who cares?  Imagine looking out the window and seeing the little girl  from three houses down walking home from school.  Just as you are about to wave you see a cargo van parked in front of her.  Two men jump out and grab her, dragging her kicking and screaming into the back of the van and seconds later it speeds off.  As soon as you see this happen, do you step away from the window and hope they didn't see you or run outside screaming to create a distraction hoping she'll have a chance to get away?  Not knowing means we don't have to care or open up the vulnerability of our heart.  Now imagine you're watching out your window, waiting for your daughter to come home from school and you see a strange van speeding past your home.  What would you want your neighbor to have done?  That's what you need to do when you're in that situation.  Perhaps you aren't witnessing and abduction.  You see children making fun of a child who obviously has a disability.  Do you continue on because none of them are yours?  Or do you step in and offer to help the bullied child find their parent or teacher and report the incident?  Or do you tell yourself, "it's not my place to get involved."  
Romans 15:1 As for us who are strong, our duty is to bear with the weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not seek our own pleasure. 
We have a duty to help those in need.  For many Christians, this means visiting those in the hospital, taking meals to those who are recovering at home, donating clothes and toys to the needy or praying that God will give them peace.  God works through us.  He wants us to give them peace, by talking to them, listening to them and helping them meet not only their physical needs, but their emotional and spiritual needs.  As Christians it is our duty to stand up for injustices, not turn off the news or close the newspaper because what we're hearing is too sordid for our ears.  Instead of using Christianity as a fallout shelter to hide from evil, we need to put on our armor and walk into the battlefields.  Before we can do this, we need to know where the battlefields are and who we're fighting.  This means we have to read the newspapers and watch the news and be aware of the evils that are going on in our world.  We can't turn a blind eye to evil and expect to conquer it.  Courage is often difficult to muster, but with God on our side, we can be assured victory.