.jpg)
By John Sykes
I pray that you are prepared to respond quickly and effectively if evil visits those you care about. To not do so belies both your Christianity and humanity. I Timothy 5:8 says “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
From Larry Miller at politicalchristian.org in “Meeting A Crisis – Two Approaches, Two Outcomes”:
…So how do these two men compare? The father saw his daughter in distress and he jumped in with immediate action. He did not know if the assailant had a weapon – a knife or gun – to defend himself. He saw a need and did what he needed to do to spare his daughter. He could have been killed, but his love for the girl was more important than his own safety. We don’t know who the man is because, as of this writing, the police have not released his name, but his actions showed that I Timothy 5:8 is about more than financial support where it says, “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
The live in boyfriend, on the other hand, took the safe route. He probably figured he could get hurt or killed by stepping in to help the woman whose bed he shared. Like the progressives criticizing the Texan, he thought the government should come and fix the problem. Unfortunately, what he found was the truth in the saying that “when seconds count, the police are only minutes away”. The fact is, there are times when individuals have to step up and get involved when emergencies arise.
If he had the same mindset as the Texas father, he would have grabbed anything he could use as a weapon, preferably a firearm, as there were three attackers. Of course, he could have been hurt or killed, but when you love someone, you put their welfare above your own. On the other hand, there could have been three deceased attackers on the floor rather than Jacqueline Gardner. Sure some people would have raised a fuss about a racist response, as they are doing with Zimmerman, but the innocent woman would have been spared.
We are living in an increasingly callous and violent world. Neither of these men knew they would be forced into such a crisis as they prepared to face their day… but it came upon them. One was prepared and took action, one stood by and called for someone else to do the job. We need not live in fear as we go about our lives, Christians know that nothing comes upon them that is a surprise to our Creator. Yet, it is more then just about us. To fail to prepare for emergencies is to fail to consider that any of us may just be the answer to someone else’s time of need. As has been said many times before – it is never wrong to do the right thing.
Related articles
Related illustration
No comments:
Post a Comment