less hYSTERia...
Less Hysteria Please...
If most of what you know and believe about life and this world comes from the media, including social media, then you are at the mercy of wanton adventurers. More and more money is being made from manipulating individuals, communities, populations and even nations, by fanning the embers of hysteria. Businesses and cooperations have since figured out that people are more likely to spend what they don't have, buy what they don't need, volunteer for a cause they don't really believe in, or push for policies that have no true moral or rational basis, if they can be made to feel that THEIR ACTION NOW will save the day for themselves, their families, or someone else. This escapist emotional outrage is often delivered with determined devoutness; an often compensatory effort at self righteousness. Perhaps if I did this one thing that makes me feel good about me, it could assuage the guilt I feel over other areas of my life. But how helpful is this really? If I deliver my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing1. Paul declared, 'God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and of sound mind'2. And we are not also permitted to spread the fiery darts of fear to the world, doing the devil's work for him!
Rather we are urged to 'Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.(RSV)' 3. Whether the problem is personal, neighbourly, family, communal, city wide, national or international - please find some solid time and PRAY. Pray for yourself. Pray for your friends and family. Pray for your neighbours. Pray for your community, your town, and your city. Pray for your pastors, your councillors and community leaders, your school teachers, lecturers and administrators. Pray for your mayors, MPs and senators, prime ministers, presidents or monarchs. In EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication... In natural disasters-pray; in man made disasters-pray. In times of undesirable policies-pray. In poverty or straitness-pray. IN ALL THINGS. The peace and wisdom for the next step won't come from the next news report or social media frenzy. That would most likely only fan the flames of hysteria.
On the contrary, one of the most powerful things about prayer is its undeniable and irresistible effect on THE ONE who prays. So are you willing to pray more, or are you satisfied with feeding off the media networks. There's whole lot they won't let you see. And there's a lot they cannot see. But there is ONE who sees and knows ALL things, who also knows how to fix things or fix you. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid'' 4. You would find that the very first person to be changed by prayer is you! More peace. More clarity. More sound judgement. Perhaps even, more inspiration! And less hysteria... when we PRAY. Shall we pray...
Scriptures: 1)1Cor 13:3; 2) 2Tim 1:7; 3) Phil 4:6 (RSV); 4)John 14:27