I spent this morning watching videos from people in Aleppo. Person after person repeated the same message, I am going to die and this is going to be my last video. People are being slaughtered in the streets. Blood runs down the sidewalk. People can’t get out. In the midst of unbelievable suffering, the regime of Bashar al-Assad keeps killing. What are we to do?
When these atrocities take place, I often hear people talk about their inability to do anything. Unable to figure anything out, people choose to sit in front of a screen and watch events play out. Surely, this is not the solution. There is an answer to such questions. Paul calls to us from Philippians 2:17, “Your faith makes you offer your lives as a sacrifice in serving God.” Do we have faith? We are called to give our lives to stop these atrocities.
Should we go to Aleppo and die? If we are able, we are absolutely called to lay down our lives. If not, then we should give our lives to stopping this atrocity from right where we are. Certainly, Jesus calls us to go deeper than our screens. God has not damned the people of Aleppo, but may God damn us if we fail to act at this crucial moment.
Amen.
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