Police are killing unarmed black men and walking away from their trials with the smug smiles of freedom. Teenage gang members are stabbing and killing each other over a wrong look, a wrong move, or a wrong connection. Men who have cheated on their wives are killing themselves as the marriages they weakened with infidelity shatter in a million pieces.
Planned Parenthood is condemning companies for (gasp!) "humanizing fetuses" while they treat women and their babies more like machines than living miracles. Children are being locked up for coming to "the land of the free" for shelter, food, and safety. ISIS proudly beheads men, women, and children in the name of their "God." Presidential candidates gloat in their wealth, lie to gain power, revel in racist rhetoric, and callously act like human lives are pawns in their own games.
Our friends betray us. Our families ostracize us. Our communities grow more disconnected by the day. Our churches are catering to the worst in us instead of challenging us to be the best in us.
People, this world is not what we wanted. It's not what we dreamed about as kids and it's not what we dream about for our own kids. The pain and tension is so palpable we run from any news that isn't interspersed with crude jokes or entertaining video montages that relieve us with a laugh when all we want to do is cry. The judgment and disinterest we fear from others forces us into little smartphone-lit caves.
Have you noticed that our rationale for daily life is becoming more and more motivated by fear and hopelessness? "People are cruel and condescending, so I'm not even going to try to trust them. Work is hard and far from rewarding, so why bother giving it the best I've got? I am discouraged and depressed, so I'm going to hide in my room to keep anyone from noticing. I can't stand a single candidate in a government race right now, so there is no way I'm voting. My brain is too tired to read anything so I'm going to watch a show that doesn't make me think. Guys/girls have broken my heart enough and made me feel stupid, no way I'm getting married. I'm already broke and tired, so there is no way I'm going to have children." And the mental conversation goes on and on in the same way.
What can we do? The ship is going down, and we're on it...so we may as well get nice and drunk, fix our minds literally anywhere else, and prepare for the worst so the pain is bearable when we drown. Right? That's all there is, isn't it?
Wrong. That ISN'T all there is.
Like many of you, I'm sure, I've been really down lately. Down on my society, down on myself, down on my situation in life, down on my relationships. Some days, things just look hopeless from every available angle.
But, I have been forgetting that there is another lens--God's. It is almost always the very LAST one my heart chooses to look through. And what would I see if I looked around me with God's eyes?
Sure, I'd see brokenness. I'd see sin and despair and agony and injustice. But I would also see unbelievable hope. I would see people loving each other in even the smallest ways. I would see souls just waiting for someone to introduce them to the overflowing love of Jesus. I would see communities that could grow deeper if they learned how to truly practice grace. I would see marriages and families that could be united if they just learned how to see themselves and each other the way God sees.
If I saw with God's eyes, every single person on this earth would be ripe for redemption. Every single situation would be on the precipice of proclaiming His glory. He doesn't see as we see. Because His love is never partial, His power is never limited, His grace is never earned or bought, and His plans are never able to be thwarted. When He looks at our lives, He sees His own sovereignty and desperately wants us to see it too.
It can be incredibly hard to rest in the knowledge that He knows when we don't, especially since we can't see Him or feel Him near. But HE DOES. And thank God that we have His promises to remind us.
Praying we will feel that reality this week, no matter the circumstances. That our jaded vision will become clear and that we will know the joy of trusting in a faithful God.
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