Sin and Sensitivity

The enormous amount of evil we can see (or hear) in one day is a bit of a modern phenomenon unlike anything in the time before electronic communication. Turn on the news and you'll see poverty, violence, murder, and corruption. Watch a comedy routine or a sitcom and you'll likely hear ungodliness glorified and God's name dishonored. We experience all these things on a daily basis.

Here's my concern: What's our reaction to it? I fear that far too often my own natural reaction is the same as that of many in the church. We harden our hearts to it, and become desensitized. "Sure, that movie had two sex scenes and dragged God's name through the dirt for two hours. Sure it depicted violence and misery where evil often triumphed over good," we say, "but it was a pretty good piece of film and you should go see it." Obviously film is just one example of the pattern of desensitization that extends into most parts of our lives.

But what should our reaction be? Hear what David says in Psalm 119:136: "My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law." What an incredible statement of sensitivity! Oh that we would go to God in humility and beg for such sensitivity to sin. Lord, help me to never look down my nose at society, but to be broken as Your heart is over people's denial of You. Help me to see the places in my life where sin is and to be broken over my sin as well. Soften our hearts and change us to be more like Your Son, who wept over the city of Jerusalem. Put sorrow in our hearts where indifference once was, and magnify Your name in it.