If you watch any kind of action movie, there is almost always a sort of battle being fought. Many thrillers, no matter how outside the box they may be, contain some form of good versus evil. This leads me to the conclusion that there MUST be something within most people that desires ultimate good to overcome. We watch a movie and ring out our hands in anticipation that the end will not disappoint. I mean, how crazy would it be if our favorite superheroes were killed, or if good didn’t prevail in the most epic of stories? If we sense such a necessity for goodness and greatness to overcome in a movie, then why are we so quick to let evil prevail in real life?
Lately, God has really been revealing to me how tough and complex life can become, how easily our flesh can give in, and how hard evil is at work to ruin the lives of those who choose Christ. So often we have the misconception that being a Christian is easy…simple…a magic potion for happiness; yet the Bible is clear that true believers will be persecuted, hated, and although joyful, not always happy. This game of life is not easily won and requires “fighting a good fight.” The Bible says, that the way leading to eternal life is narrow, and few people truly find it. It scares me to realize that all too often I am not concerned enough with those around me who are in the clutch of evil’s grasp. People who are slowly disintegrating in a corps influenced by sin are everywhere. What scares me most is why we, as Christians, are not feeling a sense of urgency, necessity, and responsibility. Why are we not redirecting those traveling the wrong way? Why do we not recognize the power of the Spirit within us that overcomes? Why are we not choosing to reach out to the hardest of hearts, to pray for those who scoff at us, and to wake up those who are sleep walking off a cliff? All to often we are blending in and lacking in any character that would reveal our claimed identity to Christ. We aren’t tapping into our resource of prayer and are easily giving up when things get tough. The truth is, we never know when time will cease and the clock will be stopped. We never know when our last breath will be taken away alongside any future opportunity to influence those who are currently hopeless and being eaten away by sin. We must no longer settle for apathy and miss opportunity, but must recognize a need for urgency, beg for mercy, and be the change that stares death in the face. What seems to us like a decade is only a second in eternity, and if we can truly grasp that, I am convinced every moment will be more than passing time, will be a fight for something greater, a contribution to something eternal, and a life lived to the fullest. We have work to do…lives to save. May we never turn our backs on those who need to look into the eyes of love, because in the end good wins and almighty God forgives. Love really is a battlefield…and we have a cause worth fighting for.
~Romans 8:37 “…In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”