Last night I was saddened to check a news Web site and see that Robin Williams was dead. He was a brilliant comic, impressionist and actor, and had been a part of my life since childhood. I loved the show Mork and Mindy when I was young, and one of my favorite movies is Dead Poets Society. He made me laugh, cry and everything in between, so I was saddened to hear of his passing.
Immediately I began to pray for his family and friends, for others in the entertainment industry in desperate need of redemption and for the many, many people who struggle with the same enemy, depression, that caused Mr. Williams to end his life. The entire situation is so very sad, and he will be missed.
After reading the news I went to check Facebook and was overwhelmed by the number of posts regarding his death. Literally three quarters of the statuses related to Robin Williams, as people talked of how they would miss him and the entertainment he provided. I want to be clear in saying that there is nothing wrong with people grieving for him. He was, in many ways, a part of our lives as we welcomed him into our homes through his shows and movies. And the way he died should break our hearts.
Robin Williams was important, but why was he important? Was it because he was famous? Because he was funny? Because he was a great actor? Because he was wealthy and influential? Nope. None of the above.
Robin Williams was important because he was knit together in his mother’s womb by God Himself. He was important because God loved him and sought to redeem him, even at the cost of dying for him, as He seeks to redeem each of us. Robin Williams was important for the same reason that you and I are important. Because God had chosen to make him important.
But it is important to note that Robin Williams was no more important and no less important than each of the other nearly seven billion people who occupy this planet. He was no more or less important than the mother in an obscure village who is right now holding her dying child. He was no more or less important than the Christian father who is huddled right now with his family in Iraq, wondering if they will survive the day. He was no more or less important than the child dying of Ebola in an overrun clinic in Liberia. He is no more or less important than any of us in the eyes of the One who matters.
Just this afternoon I received heartbreaking news. Maria del Carmen, the mother of one of the children with whom we work, had suddenly died. Now little Jose Alejandro and his sisters are without a mom and they are grieving deeply with their father. And it bothered me that, in the world’s economy, very few outside of her family will every mourn her passing or share the grief of this family. No one beyond her small corner of her town, outside the readers of this blog, will even take note of her passing. But in God’s eyes she is every bit as valuable and precious as Robin Williams.
That is what bothered me last night. Not that so many mourned and expressed their grief over Mr. William’s death, but that there is so little expression of grief for the incredible suffering and deaths that occur every day in our world. Thousands die and so few notice. One man dies and an entire nation grieves.
So I updated my status and expressed my sadness at his passing and prayers for his family and friends. I then added the following:
I can’t help but wish we could get this kind of interest and concern for the hundreds dying in Africa of Ebola, the thousands being persecuted and slaughtered in Iraq or the 26,000+ children who die in our world every day of preventable causes. What would happen if we could find the passion for the multitude that we have for the one? I wonder...
A little while later one of my friends who has a true heart for Jesus and His priorities replied:
My thoughts as well. But I wonder if Robin isn't more relatable, and because many of us grew up watching him, we feel that we knew him on a more personal level. Iraq and Africa is so far away, and with no names to the faces of the persecutors and victims (of both Ebola and ISIS), we are desensitized to the reality of the tragedy.
And she is, of course, correct. That is the issue. It is much easier to relate to and grieve for someone we see regularly, feel like we know and who has made us laugh and cry than someone who is just a faceless statistic. Joseph Stalin once said, “When one person dies, it’s a tragedy, but when a million people die, it’s a statistic.” As horrible as Stalin was as a human, he certainly understood human nature.
But therein lies the problem. We live in a world that recognizes, honors and grieves the famous and ignores the obscure. In this world there are the noteworthy and the statistics. One is treasured and elevated and the other is brushed past carelessly with platitudes. But as children of God, we are called to live by His economy that sees everyone as important and no one as more important. We are called to see and love as Jesus sees and loves.
But how do we do that? How do we look past the statistics to see the names and faces behind them so that we can care for them as God does and grieve for them when they are lost? Just a few thoughts…
- Ask for help – I believe God understands that we are surrounded by wrong priorities and that it is difficult to see past the hype to see the real needs. And I believe He wants to help us. Each of us needs to spend time regularly seeking Jesus’ view of the world around us. I call it “tuning in and tuning up.” It is only by the Spirit of God, alive within us, that we can see with the eyes of God, feel with the heart of God, think with the mind of God and touch with the hands of God.
Look past the headlines – Face it, media outlets are concerned with one thing…increasing their viewers, readers and hits on their sites. Therefore the news is dispensed, not according to importance, but according to the publisher’s perception of the audience’s interest. As a result, the items that make the large print and big new coverage are often not the biggest stories. This is especially true of the United States where there is a strong leaning toward ethnocentrism. The events receiving the most coverage are usually the ones that directly impact the US and its citizens while international events are often ignored or buried deeply in the paper or Web site. (For example, the recent Ebola outbreak in Africa had received only minor coverage until two Americans were diagnosed with the illness and talk began to spread regarding the possibility of it coming to the US. Suddenly the story gained traction in US media outlets.) That is why we need to look past the big print to see the rest of the world. Click on the “World” or “International” link on the news sites. Spend more time in the deeper pages of the paper. Look beyond the hype to see the real news.- Engage the engaged – Never has it been easier to connect with missionaries and workers on the ground. Through e-mail, blogs and Web sites we can see the world news through people who are engaged in the real-life struggle behind the stories. It is one thing to read about the persecution of Iraqi Christians in an impersonal news story, but completely another to read the first-hand accounts of shootings, beheadings and abuse from someone who lives there and loves the people. Just this morning I read the blog of a health worker in Liberia and the blog of a relief worker in Iraq. Those people are much more to me than statistics, they are now names and faces. Connect with those who can help you connect to the real people behind the news accounts.
- Meditate on the Word – I don’t want to beat an old point to death, but how can we know what is important to God unless we read about the heart of God? It is through Scripture that we learn to think and see as God does, so we cannot neglect that time and still have His heart.
- Pray…like you mean it – I have heard it said that we pray for what is important to us. But I think the reverse is also true. As we pray consistently for a concern it becomes more important to us. Many times I have found myself, through prayer, moved from detached words to tears of profound compassion. As I talk to God about the world’s needs, He often talks back, as I desperately need Him to.
- Don’t forget the response – We dare not see the world through God’s eyes but fail to respond with his love. The first does not assure the second. For example, earlier today I read a story online about the persecution in Iraq. I was thrilled to see people posting and talking about that issue, but was disheartened to see the responses of the believers in the comment section. Instead of prayers for the persecuted it was filled with comments about the “monsters” responsible and demanding retaliation. This is a far cry from Jesus’s words in Matthew 5:44, "But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..." Jesus loves and died for both the persecutors and persecuted, and we should love and pray for both. We should be praying for strength and courage for the believers in the face of martyrdom while also praying that those who yield the sword will see Jesus through the lie that has surrounded them. We need God’s help to not only see the problem, but also know how to respond in word and action as He would.
It is a daily battle to live by God’s economy instead of the world’s. May God help us to do so and do it well. There is so much more to God’s heart than just the headlines.
Daryl
