A Kick or a Hand?
Ira Young was leaving his home in suburban Atlanta on his way to work. Now, I’m not sure what he was doing that caused him to miss the upcoming hazard, but he drove his car into a large sinkhole that formed in one of the residential roads. Emergency workers roped off the area and had to leave the car overnight because they were unsure if the ground around the hole would support a crane to lift the car out. The next morning, Ira came back to meet the emergency workers and found his car had been badly vandalized. Much of the remaining glass in the car had been shattered out, the car seats were ripped up, and his stereo was stolen.
Can you imagine how this guy felt? He already knew that his car was going to require some repairs after falling several feet down into a hole. But I can just imagine how sick he must have felt to come back the next morning and see his car trashed. I never found any follow-up to the story, but my guess is that they didn’t repair this car after everything that had happened to it.
There are people all around us that are falling into sinkholes of sin and shame. And so often when lost people are out making the choices that lost people make, Christians condemn them for it. We say that they got what they deserved, or that if they wouldn’t live like such heathens then their lives wouldn’t turn out so bad. Have we considered whether they have ever heard about Jesus? Paul arrived in Athens in Acts 17, not as a missionary, but just waiting on some friends to join him. While he was there, the Bible says in Acts 17:16, “Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.” So what did he do? He didn’t kick them while they were down spiritually. The verse says he was getting provoked or fired up by their evil, but instead of just condemning them and walking away, he takes an opportunity to preach and tell the people of Athens about Jesus. Some rejected and walked away while others remained to hear more. We can’t control what people do with the Gospel, but we have an obligation and an opportunity to accept God’s invitation in Isaiah 6:8, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Let’s stop kicking the lost while they’re down. Let’s start giving them a hand up through the knowledge of the Gospel.