Something Is Not Right

There was not one person in that Colorado theater last Thursday night who did not truly believe that what was happening was wrong, as they cowered in terror, confronting evil face to face.   There is something terribly wrong with our world.  That is something on which we all agree.

Reporters have fanned the country looking for people who knew the gunman, looking for clues, as if to build the evidence of his evil nature.  Surprisingly, or maybe not so shocking, is that through the years – even days before the shooting - he appeared to others as a pretty normal guy, quiet, studious, with nothing more than a traffic violation.  Not so different than me, I thought. 

Quite honestly, we are ALL deceived, every day, into doing what is self-centered in our motives, words, and deeds.  We do it so much, we are most often not even aware of it.  The rampage in Colorado was simply self-centeredness to an extreme.  We typically cover and contain our self-centeredness just enough to stay under the legal radar and what is socially acceptable, so as not to appear obviously wrong or be noticed, convincing ourselves that our own wrongdoings aren’t really that bad, and after all, in a throwback to adolescence, everyone else does it.  My wrongdoings don’t hurt anyone, we surmise, and if they do, well, I didn’t mean to, as if that excuses the devastation left behind.   And, at least, I am not as bad as HIM.  Chuck Colson once wrote about a pastor who went to visit a prison for the first time.  He was very uncomfortable until a seasoned worker said, “These guys are just like you and me.  They just got caught.”

I saw the gunman as he entered court yesterday, a grown man with orange hair, pathetic and deceived.   How different his life could have been.  How different our lives could be.  Self-centeredness is ugly and hurtful in ALL forms.  And it always affects others.  When each of us walks away from what is good and right and just, we are walking toward what is evil, wrong, and unjust.   There is no neutral ground.  We deceive ourselves and then become horrified at the outcome down the road.

Last week, the alleged suspect directly impacted the lives of 71 people and, indirectly, millions of others.  Everyday, each one of us does the same, for good or evil.  That is how it works, the logical consequences of our actions reverberate throughout the world.  Indeed, the Bible says that we even impact generations to come, children yet unborn, by the choices we make on a daily basis.

Why doesn’t God do something about evil?   He did.  He sent His Son to die for that self-centeredness in each one of us. That is what the gospel is, that is how grace works, and that’s how deep His love is.  Every life is precious.  That extreme sadness that we feel over what happened is only a glimpse of what God feels.  His compassion is deeper than we can imagine.

Two of the basic questions that every worldview must answer are:  “What’s wrong with the world?”  And “Is there any hope?” There are millions asking those same questions right now.  But the reason people ignore the subject of self-centeredness and evil is because we all have to account for it in our own lives.  We all have to deal with it.  And it is a little too close for comfort.

Someone once asked author G. K. Chesterton in a newspaper column the question, “What is wrong with the world?”  And Chesterton answered quite simply, “Dear Sir, I am.”

 

LORD, have mercy on us.