The Whole Picture

I can see the New York City skyline right now. So eerie without the Twin Towers.

I really fought the temptation today to say to myself, "How could God allow this tragedy to happen? With all those poor men and women jumping out of holocaustic windows to their deaths, is my battle against sexual impurity at all pertinent in light of all else that is transpiring in the world?

I opened my Bible and was reminded YES, it IS most certainly important. Accounts of death and horror and war and injustice flourish in God’s Word. God tells us YES! This is the condition of the world which we have been put in charge of. YES! Death of people we love, devastation and horror are actual. God does not like death at all, but He does acknowledge its existence and its power and its ability to come like a thief in the night. Today I saw this. I saw it in the unfortunate passengers on the hijacked flights which were doomed for destruction and in the unsuspecting workers in the World Trade Center and federal buildings that were attacked.

For a while, I was distracted by the terror. Then I was made uncomfortable by wondering if all those victims are facing judgment now. Are some of them in Glory? What if the hijackers repented at the last second? If one of the men on the plane had just been unfaithful to his wife, was that on par with mass murder? The terrorists were counting on a "reward" from "Allah" for their deeds…were they disappointed? Some passengers gave their lives for their country…did this matter eternally in any way?

If our faith is real, we must believe that God does not stop tragedies such as the terrorist attack because He sees that there is a life after this one. Or, as my friend Kevin phrased it, God sees the "whole picture". God seems to put more emphasis of spreading the Good News about Jesus Christ than He does about stopping wars or prolonging physical life. Maybe, this is so because He sees that earthly life is for about 1 minute to maybe 120 years. It does not last longer than this. But the next life is described as an eternal life and perhaps we are to use our short time here to share Jesus with others at every possible opportunity so that when death strikes like a thief in the night, their eternal destiny in sealed in Christ.

Kevin lost an old acquaintance in the attack who worked in the World Trade Center. He was a friend with benefits* from his "gay days". I could see Kevin was disturbed by the news of his death. But, I could see the untold reason for his grief was because he had shared only fun times and earthly pleasures with this guy and never introduced him to Jesus because, at the time, Kevin had been in a brief rebellion. Now, there would be no other opportunity for sharing Christ with this soul.

Why didn’t God stop it? He took preventive measures by commanding us to not murder. But, as I recall, I once added hours to my sign-in sheet at work and got paid for time I did not work. If my employer at the time had known, he might ask, "Why didn’t God stop Robert from cheating me?" Well, that is because Robert has free will to obey or to disobey and, at that time, I did not know Christ and operated on a different value system.

So, I say to myself, YES, staying pure, even in the midst of a world tragedy is most certainly necessary because we lose valuable time to serve Jesus with each distraction of impurity. Maybe one of the terrorists was interacting with Christians at some point in his life, but the Christians were too involved or distracted with sin to exemplify Christ. Maybe I was the Christian he was around at some point and I was focused on lust or shaking my bon-bon at some gay bar at that moment and lost the opportunity to witness. Who knows?

*for a definition of a "friend with benefits", please consult with any gay or previously gay man.

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