Then all the men who were aware
that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods,
along with all the women
who were standing by, as a large assembly,
including all the people
who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt,
responded to Jeremiah, saying,
“As for the message that you
have spoken to us in the name of the Lord,
we are not going to listen to you!
But rather we will certainly carry out
every word that has proceeded from our mouths…
Jeremiah 44:15-17
We live in a day where there is a lot of standing by. It’s sad really. We read all the time in the news of how someone is arrested for a crime… and then all these “witnesses” get on the tv screen telling the reporter all that they saw. As I watch I find myself screaming at the tv: “Excuse me? You “saw” all this and you just stood by and did nothing? You just took notes so you could get in front of the tv camera and give your grand opinion of the situation for your fifteen minutes of fame?“
How many times do you see something caught on camera and we see this huge crowd standing by watching one person being abused… there is a whole crowd of grown men and women there watching… seeing… and yet they do nothing.
Steubenville was not a one time, one place thing. It happens all the time… everywhere… in every little town… in every big city. How many were there that night and saw, but did nothing.
Rutger was not a one time, one place thing. It happens all the time… everywhere… in every little town… in every big city. How many were there and saw, but did nothing.
Penn State was not a one time, one place thing. It happens all the time… everywhere… in every little town… in every big city. How many knew… had a feeling… even saw, but did nothing.
Church goer… Christ professor… did you see… yet do nothing?
For me there are times that it is almost nauseating to think of all of us piling our families into our cars in our clean Sunday clothes and driving to our beautiful church building on Sunday morning and walking in and smiling and singing our songs and playing with our tech gadgets as we half-way listen to the Word while we whisper and giggle about what movie… game… race… we saw last night or during the week.
Knowing that somewhere, right now, at some other place in the world… a six year old girl is being raped by a disgusting blob of demonically driven mad-man that bought her from a wretched woman who sold her to him for coins…
How many saw her sold… how many knows he buys… how many knows she sells… yet do nothing.
Please, for the love of Christ… for the love of innocence… let us do something.
Today, stop.
Stop and look.
What do you see?
And precious one… above all else… what can you do.
Trust me.