Wanda Bam

 “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:  looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”  Hebrews 12:14-15

After more than 940 people were diagnosed with the unexplainable illness called Listeriosis and after more than 180 succumbed to it, an announcement was eventually made that it was bacteria hidden in certain products that were even possibly stored in our fridges at home. One could only imagine what the extent of social media reaction would be.  Of course, many of these reports on social media have “grown tails” and mass hysteria reigns. Fridges at home are being emptied, whether there are traces of the bacteria or not. Stores and shops are clearing their racks of any possible products related to the illness and the media is conflicted with the myriads of questions being asked. Even the politicians are being attacked for their supposed lack of control measures.

Now I wonder….

Do we respond in like manner with our families?  Do we respond in like manner with the disloyalty of employees, with the divisions in our church, with the addiction to dependence-forming substances? Do we ask the correct and important questions and do we do research, do we search for truths, do we search the Bible sufficiently for wisdom and insight in order to form an opinion about the brokenness of our world?

Do we search for the origin of evil in our own hearts or have we become so preoccupied with searching for the splinter in someone else’s eye that we have forgotten about the log in our own eyes? Are we as believers prepared to, with the same thoroughness that has been experienced in search of this bacteria, go into the world?  Have we gone throughout the world in search of those who are ignorant, who have turned their backs on God? There are still those who live without fear of sin and who live as if life belongs to them. May we understand that we cannot just remove the hurting, the rejected, the neglected, the infected, the unattractive, the poor, those who are a burden on the economy and the addicted from the racks, but that we need to urgently intervene, formulate action plans and take charge in an unpretentious and tangible way. Merely sending chain messages does not cut it anymore. We need to become actively involved with that which God has entrusted to us, with wisdom and true dependence on Him.

Prayer: Lord, all that I ask of You today is wisdom and a deep realization of dependence on Your leading. Teach me to help twice before criticizing once. I want to make a difference, please teach me how. Amen