For over three decades, I have thought about the day I found my mother after my stepdad shot her in the head. There are many things I have forgotten since I was 10 years old, but that image of her in blood is seared into my brain—along with the image of her in a casket and what it looks like for a mortician to try to fill a bullet hole in someone’s face. Some things you can’t forget… The curtain being pulled back on the truth of my family tree six days later didn’t make things any easier.
Any thoughts of evil always take me back to what happened in the laundry room of that house so many years ago. I’ve stopped by that house several times since then, I’ve stood at my mother’s grave multiple times since then, and God has not yet given me a supernatural revelation with all the answers. Enough time has passed that I don’t cry at those places (or alone when thinking about it), and God doesn’t send warm goosebumps—just silence while I slowly drive by or stand there. But the silence of God is safer than the foolishness of man—I have the books of Job and Romans and four accounts of the crucifixion.
And that is better than clichés that won’t erase death, quotes pulled out of context that won’t erase evil, and keyboard warriors sharing their mic-drop posts (which are more like a thud with a whopping two likes) that won’t solve suffering.
“Everyone shouts hooray for their side, nobody is right, and everybody is wrong.” So, Christian, unless God has seemingly given you an influential audience, remember that social media isn’t likely the place to fix things. The platform makes money off everyone engaging and trying to one-up one another. They want you mad, and they want you to feel like you know it all so you’ll tell everyone about it… People who found an anonymous post think they know more than FBI agents, people who googled a Bible verse think they know more than trained theologians, and those who can’t string two coherent sentences together “really showed them.” Showed them everything except how to use the shift key, punctuation marks, and spellcheck. Don’t lean too much into the opinions of those whose social media timeline looks like they become experts with a new subject every week.
So, Christian, since trying to fix the world via social media likely won’t happen for most of us unknown nobodies, spend time this weekend with a group of people who have thought hard about suffering, who have spent time thinking through where we ground our hope, and who are completely sure that they haven’t figured it all out yet. I’ll be doing that with about 10–12 adults (20–25 if they can all attend) this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. if that interests anyone. We will pick up this week where we ended last week: 1 John 3—Is your life righteous, and is your love real?
preachertony.com 