Thoughts and Prayers
Whenever I hear interviews on the national news
channels covering natural disasters, terrorist events, acts of
violence, or families who have lost a loved one, I can pretty much
predict how the newsperson will end the segment. In most cases, the
interviewer will say something like, “our thoughts and prayers are
with you.” I’ve noticed similar headlines in area newspapers when
homes and businesses are struck by tornadoes or fire. I remember,
too, the Orlando Sentinel’s front-page headline reading “Godspeed
John Glenn” when this American hero passed away.
I once worked for a major newspaper corporation, and
I know at the time that the majority of the newspaper publishers
were liberal in their ideals and beliefs. For the most part, they
pooh-poohed biblical principles and the conservative point of view,
and they took any and every opportunity to mock those who held those
beliefs. God is certainly not in the day-to-day thinking of many
journalists or newscasters. Yet I find it so interesting that when
catastrophes happen, or when newspersons really want to get across a
meaningful sentiment, they don’t hesitate to use wording such as
“Godspeed John Glenn” or editorialize that their “thoughts and
prayers” are with someone.
How is it that they can be so calloused and
antagonistic toward the spiritual things of this world in their
day-to-day lives, yet when they want to express sentimentality, they
bring up God and prayers? To me, this is the height of hypocrisy.
Either you believe in God or you don’t. He is either a part of your
life, or he isn’t. He isn’t a switch that can be turned on when you
want Him, but kept off the rest of the time. He is not a part-time
God. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is everything.
Perhaps their apparent callousness when everything
is going okay is a blind, or intentional, new age belief that they,
themselves, are as gods. When life is going at its usual pace,
filled with its usual news, journalists and newscasters are
convinced that they are in control of their own destiny. Yet when
tragedy strikes, they have to admit that they have no means within
themselves to solve the problem. They are forced to allow the
message of their inward hearts to surface, telling them that there
is an ultimate power in control, and it is only He who has the
wherewithal to solve, comfort and heal.
I feel sorry for them. In one breath they’ll use
God’s name in vain and criticize those whose lives are based solely
on who He is. Yet in time of death or sorrow, they use His name as
if it suddenly has meaning. Perhaps if they were to put aside their
pride and self-absorption, they would discover that they have a hole
in their lives that can only be mended and filled with the person of
Jesus Christ. And, if they only could comprehend the love He has for
them, in spite of their attitudes and disbeliefs, their lives would
be changed forever.
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