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Osama, Splakna, and You

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“It's been a Disney kind of week: The Last Song is on cable, a prince got married, and the bad guy died.”  —Nicholas Sparks

It was one of those rare moments, wasn’t it?  An experience that could live on in the forefront of your memory and emotions for many years to come.  The long awaited—and perhaps even unexpected—news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed hit the media and internet like a tidal wave.

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard about the death of the most notorious terrorist of our modern times? 

Or perhaps more importantly…do you remember what you felt when the realization hit you that the man who bore the responsibility for the murder of thousands will no longer have the ability to plot destruction and death?

It was obvious what emotions dominated the majority of our nation—Facebook lit up like a Christmas tree with celebration statuses, Twitter was blasting out Tweets at a machine gun pace, and images of “U.S.A.” chanting crowds filled the airwaves.

And then came the debate.

You know what I’m talking about—right?  The very relevant and important topic of how Christians should react when an evil person dies.  Not an easy answer to be sure, and when I googled “how should a Christian respond to Osama Bin Laden’s death”—it actually returned nearly 100,000 results!

And there just may be 100,000 opinions out there ranging all the way from celebration and elation to mourning and condemnation.

And that’s just what they are…opinions…which is nothing more than—

“A view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge” (www.dictionary.com)

We don’t need opinions to answer our question of what is the godly response is to Bin Laden’s death.  We need the truth with a capital “T”—the Truth of God’s Word:

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? (Ezekiel 18:23)

If any Being in the universe has a right to take pleasure when evil men die, it would be God.  But clearly His heart does not rejoice or find enjoyment in the passing of anyone made in His image…which is everyone.

Do we celebrate justice being served and the fact that our world has one less mass murderer to deal with?  Of course!  But this isn’t a football game where we whoop it up because our “team” was victorious.

And herein lays the complexity of our emotions when we process a milestone event such as this one.  It is not only possible—but normal—to experience a wide range of multiple emotions simultaneously. The key is to discern which ones are from God and which stem from our sinful nature.

But I’m concerned that all this twitter tweeter tiffs may be distracting us from the most vital emotion all Christians should have running in the background of their souls.  It’s the same one Jesus felt when He gazed at humanity.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Matthew 9:36-37).

The word in the original language for compassion here is splakna—which was used in Greek language to describe your inward parts.  So when Jesus looks at people, He literally feels as though He is “spilling His guts” because He sees how broken and lost they are without Him.

How about us?  Here we are debating how we should respond to the news about Bin Laden, when God is begging us to stop arguing and start spilling our guts over the heartbreaking reality that billions of human beings that are headed for an eternity separated from God.

Do we rejoice that evil has been defeated and therefore many lives will be saved?  Guess what?  Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross was the ultimate defeat of all evil, and therefore billions of lives could be saved if…

If we have compassion. 

If we focus on what’s truly important.

If we stop squabbling and start splakna-ing!

My friends, we have an amazing opportunity to use the news of Bin Laden’s death to open up conversations for THE Cause of Christ.  The ultimate enemy of our souls was defeated when Jesus walked out of His own grave…and that changes everything.  The military can save lives from terrorists with weapons, but we can be a part of saving eternal souls with the explosive and life-giving message of the gospel!

 

People will be talking about Bin Laden and terrorism for quite some time, so this is a great opportunity to ask people about how we should respond to someone’s death.  Most people will have an opinion that could lead to a discussion about our own eternal destinies.  Ask your friends what they think about what happens when they die, then pray for an opening to share the gospel.

Jesus, you showed us how we should feel about people who don’t know you as their Savior.  I pray that I would have the same compassion that you had when you saw how lost and broken they were.  Thank you for dying on the cross to set us free from the slavery of sin and a destiny in hell.  Use us to advance your Kingdom through the cause.

John 3:16-18. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

   Amp up your commitment to sharing your faith and reaching your friends using Greg Stier’s new 30-day student devo, Reach Out…Don’t Freak Out. It will give you daily motivation and practical tips and strategies for reaching into your friends’ lives with Jesus message of grace and hope.