Inspirational Article From Joanne Lowe Index of Writings by Joanne Lowe on Gospel Web

A HURTING WORLD

“Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him. ”

Matthew 20: 28 - 34 King James Version

Yesterday morning I heard a lady say “I was so upset about the way they handled the situation that I wrote a letter complaining about it.” She went on to explain what she was so upset about and as she was talking, I found myself becoming a little upset also. Then she said “I stayed up until one o’clock in the morning just to hear what happened as I missed the soap opera when it was on at the regular time.”

All that time she had been talking about a soap opera on television and she had actually written a letter to an official complaining about the situation. I asked her why she watched the program if it upset her so much. She replied “It takes away the pain of my life and I don’t have to think about what’s going on in my life.”

I then told her that I also, at one time in my life, had been addicted to a soap opera and that I had actually raised my hand in a Wednesday night prayer meeting and asked for prayer for one of the people in the soap opera. She said “You were more addicted to soap operas than I am.” I told her that those people in the soap opera were real to me; that I felt that I knew them personally. Like the lady said, while I was watching them, I didn’t have to think about what was happening in my life. I could escape from my pain. There’s only one thing wrong with that; it was only temporary. As soon as the show was over, the pain of my own life would hit me anew.

I found out that only Jesus can take the hurting away. When He took the pain of my childhood away, I no longer had any need to watch soap operas to escape. There are some people that turn to alcohol, sex, and drugs to escape the pain in their hearts that tries to overwhelm them and pull them down for the last time. They may experience a temporary relief from the pain, but that is all that it is just a temporary relief. It doesn’t last very long. Only Jesus can give us a lasting peace and only Jesus can take away the pain and horror in our hearts.

Oh dear friends, we live in a hurting world. As Joyce Landorf, the well known speaker and author, said while talking about the people we sit next to in church “They look fine and they look darling but inside they are hurting.” Not only are the people that we sit next to in church lonely and hurting; I think every one in the world has some kind of heartache. There are some people who say that everything is okay in their life. Joyce said “You may not be hurting and that’s great but pray for the people who are all around you that are hurting and in tremendous pain.”

How sad and how tragic it is that people have to listen to soap operas on television to escape from their pain. That says that we, the people who claim to be Christians, are not telling the good news of the unconditional love of Jesus to a hurting world. One day we will stand before a Holy God and give an account to Him of the reason why we didn’t tell our families, our friends and a hurting world that Jesus is the answer to every heartache and every situation. May God have mercy on us!

Joanne Lowe

October 14, 2007

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