What Are You Shining a Light On?

After watching the events of the Boston Marathon happen a couple years back, we’re tempted to think the world is a terrible place. And in some ways, it is. But what we don’t often consider at times like that is how many good people there were surrounding the bad.

From the destruction, we heard stories of marathon participants running past the finish line to local hospitals where they donated blood. Another man was caught on video rushing toward the explosions and ripping off his belt to create a tourniquet for a wounded victim.

The accounts of heroism were numerous.

One reporter told the story of a man who was rushing in and out of the danger zone, carrying people a hundred yards to safety. Joe Andruzzi, a retired NFL football star who won the Super Bowl three times with the New England Patriots, was seen carrying multiple victims away from the finish line. All three of Andruzzi’s brothers were firemen who rushed into the wreckage of the Twin Towers on 9/11.

I follow friends on Twitter who immediately tweeted they had room in their homes in Boston for anybody who needed a place to stay. More friends than I can count tweeted that they’d stopped, pulled over their cars and were praying. Restaurants in the area offered free meals.

We see this at every terrible event, don’t we?

So much more light than darkness. So much more love than hate. So much more courage than cowardice.

There are a few very loud theologians who want us to believe the heart of man is evil, as is spoken of poetically in Scripture. But they are often wrong (and emasculating) in the way they interpret and teach this idea. They use it as a method to devalue and thus control people.

The real idea is that apart from God, true purity does not reside in us. Without His light shining through us, we are dark inside.

But we often take this too far.

We devalue the true goodness that is, while earthly, in every human being. We all reflect on the goodness of our Maker, whether we know that Maker or not. When we shine a light on the courage, bravery, kindness and altruism displayed by every human being, we say to the world, “See that goodness inside of you? That comes from your Father. You got that from your Father,” and, as such, invite people to know their God.

It would be tempting in times of destruction and loss to focus on the negative, the terrible. It would be tempting at times like these to shine a light on what Satan has done and what Satan is doing. But we shouldn’t. We should shine a light on what God has done, who God has made brave and courageous, and what God is doing in the world.

Fred Rogers (a Presbyterian minister turned children’s show host) once said, “Look for the helpers. You’ll always find people who are helping.”

What Are You Shining a Light On? is a post from: Storyline Blog