Help and Hope
We live in a world of marvelous technology. Technology allows us to do "more." Modern technology shows itself in many, many areas of our lives. I am constantly amazed at the advances modern medicine has seen and accomplished. Right now, AI (Artificial Intelligence), is all the buzz. People worry that AI is going to get out of control and lead to an end-of-the-world ("Terminator") situation. A few decades ago, everyone was applauding the technological breakthroughs in agriculture and how the poor of the world would finally have access to food. Now there is a backlash, and technology is the villain because food is not organically grown. Moving past the debate about the value of technological advances and scientific creativity, let’s consider the practicality of technology.
Technology allows us to do more in a manner that is faster than we ever thought possible. One of the mantras in this great age of technological marvels is that we can and should eliminate suffering. Certainly, there are some sorts of suffering that we should overcome if we are able, but as we live in a fallen and cursed world, suffering is inevitable. I wonder if our preoccupation with making life easier, quicker, and safer has caused us to lose sight of the fact that God calls us to show compassion to a lost and suffering world. Compassion comes from a Latin word that means "to suffer with." In a world that is filled with hurt and broken people, seeing genuine compassion is becoming a rare quality. Our news bureaus are filled with stories of people being assaulted while the public watches or walks by. Technology allows people to make a recording of the calamity in real-time. How tragic it is when people refrain from helping or getting involved, yet they stand idly by and record the event. It is a frightening fact that as we worship our technological marvels and pat ourselves on the back for technological ingenuity, we have created a culture that has lost its capacity or willingness to enter the pain of others.
I have read articles that speak about the difference between empathy and sympathy. It is not my intent to debate the difference, I simply make the observation that in this busy, hectic, technological world there is too little empathy, sympathy, and compassion. What do Christians have to say to a world that is being beaten down by evil forces? What is the Church doing? How are the people of God making a difference? Too often churches prefer to allow outside groups to do the job of helping others and caring for the hurting. While we groan and complain about the mismanagement of big government, we are glad to have people go to "Big-Brother" for their food, clothing, and other needs. Has our avoidance of suffering with the hurting diluted our witness for Jesus?
If we were to look at the church of the New Testament, we would see people who believed that God created a new family, the church family. God’s Kingdom, the church, is a community of brothers and sisters under one Father, who journey together on the difficult path of discipleship and carry each other's burdens when difficulties become too much to bear on our own. In a world where life was cheap, the early church made a difference by taking in babies that were tossed onto the trash heaps outside of their towns. The ancient world laughed at, ridiculed, and even killed the early Christians, yet they respected and admired their compassion and caring.
I believe that God calls Christians to make a difference today. As life spirals downward and chaos seems to spread, the church can be God’s beacon of light and hope to this broken, searching world. Today, it is a tragedy that many professed Christians are just looking to find a place of leisure and relaxation in the church. They want good music, entertaining shows, and luxurious accommodations. The question at hand is whether this search is compatible with the call of Jesus for every disciple to take his cross and follow Jesus to their death. Keep looking up!