The Bible says in 1st John 3: 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in DEED and in truth.

One thing I have observed over the years is this.    We live in this social media exposed world today where we have never faced so many challenges and hurting people all around us.   I think individually most of us can say we are facing challenges and problems that are much more intense today than 20 years ago.

The Bible says things are going to get worse.   That is scary.   That is true from a falling away turn our back on God World – but I think the fruit of it we see with just our attitudes and callousness and confusion.   Perilous times have come.

What I also see is we are becoming desensitized to people and maybe it’s because we can’t handle the collective burdens of everyone around us.

Years ago it seemed big events-   Cancer diagnosis-  job loss-  someone being suicidal-  someone depressed-  whatever-  were big deals.  People rallied around them.   Neighbors came together and people pulled together.

Crisis were a big deal.   But not today.

Now it’s like the boy who cried wolf.   And if you have 10 rabid howling wolves about to devour you, so what?  Someone just witnessed a person fend off 12 wolves 3 Months ago with a grass whip while blindfolded so 10 wolves are not a big deal.  Get over it.

Today I see more devouring and attacking and just coldness and apathy –  and this often is found even in the churches.     The church will throw out a “I am praying for you brother!”  today even if you call a close brother at 3 am because your house is on fire and you are trapped upstairs and he never returned the ladder he borrowed.

What has become of us?  It’s a “not my job- not my circus – not my monkeys”

It’s a “I don’t-need-such-negativity-in my life.”

I prayed for you – now go away.   You’re interrupting my circus and my life and you are annoying my monkeys.

So we share smiley photos and happy dinners and cute kitties and pretend everything is awesome.

Sometimes it is.

Sometimes people have their claws out.    Hurting people –  hurt people.

We don’t mean to be over sensitive but people today are mean and cruel at times.   If we are going through something we can be as cuddly as a cactus and catfish combined but I think we get that way after being attacked on all fronts no matter what you do.  For example, I had a family of 7 living in our comfy home for 10 years and people would give you grief for not moving to a bigger home.   And so you move when the timing seems right and they applaud you at first and then you lose your job a month later after you moved and now you still can’t find a job 8 months later and the same people are calling you an idiot.  “What were you thinking?”

Jesus knows what we face.  Three days after they were crying “Hosana in the highest!”
the same people were calling out “Crucify Him!”

It doesn’t change the hurts but it does put things in perspective.

Well, folks-   Life is hard.    Hindsight is 20/20.  In many ways things are going to get worse.    There was a day when you had people to pick you up when you fell.   Now people walk past you on the way to their own problems and if you can get up on your own and limp on after them fast enough, you might be able to catch up.

Today Families need to come together-   Instead it’s become a Civil War at least on social media.     Instead the families don’t help because you have a church and churches don’t help because you can go to the government and if the government helps they own you.   The Liberal crowd will give millions of dollars to save a tree from global warming but won’t help starving children because their dad possibly voted for Trump.

Instead can we get along?   Can we be secure in what we believe to dare again be a Good Samaritan?

“We” who are going through that struggle or hardship don’t beat you over the head for your decisions-  so don’t beat anyone else over theirs.    We know we would have chosen differently if we could go back.   But so would you too.

Would I be out of line to say church families need to pull together?

And Christians-   We need to be doers of the
Word.

Expect it to get worse-   For sure.   We might be going from the frying pan straight into the fires.

But it’s not time to point fingers- it is time to look up.   It is time to lock arms and lock knees in prayer.   It time we Christian simply need to start learning to be Christian again.