I went to Kroger yesterday and I cannot begin to tell you the oppressive feeling that was in that place. The heavy emotional load is beginning to weigh on everyone, as we wonder how many more people are going to die. What I am about to say is in no way trying to minimize that pain but to put it into a biblical perspective.
As the world population approaches 8 billion we block out the painful reality that over 55 million people die every year. That is approximately 150,000 people every day that includes up to 26,000 children.
Christians must remember that the ultimate global pandemic was the Fall and it infected every one of Adam’s race with the eternal disease of sin. Stop for just one minute and calculate your percentage of these 55 million people who will die this year who don’t know Christ.
We are in the season where we celebrate the redemptive power of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection that offers forgiveness as a cure for every tongue, tribe and nation. Can you imagine what it was like to be there in the first few chapters of Acts? The power fell, signs and wonders followed and thousands were added to the church.
Christians celebrated all that the Father was doing and yet by chapter 8 we read these words: And there arose a great persecution against the church at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria and those who were scattered went about preaching the word.
My prayer for myself and every Christian as we celebrate this Easter season is that we will never forget the billions who are lost and without hope. May our compassion for a fallen world scatter us once again to live out our faith every day at home, work and in our neighborhoods.