I can’t do everything, but I can do something.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and if you’re like me, you can get overwhelmed by all the tragedies, all the bad news, all the evil in this world. I make it my business to read documents which catalog the list of abuses against children and women with disabilities around the world. Oh, my goodness. After just an hour of reading, I have got to stop or I'll get depressed — children with cerebral palsy being sacrificed in parts of East Africa to ensure that a certain mine will yield more precious stones. Hello! Children with Down syndrome left to starve on river banks because it’s believed they’ll bring a curse on the village. And even here on the home front my heart breaks over the systematic abuse against elderly people in certain nursing homes, or disabled people in certain care facilities.
And that’s just documentation about disabled persons! All you would have to do is pick up a newspaper: A Sudanese court sentences a woman to death for believing in Christ. Hundreds of schoolgirls are kidnapped by Islamic terrorists in Nigeria. A Turkish mine explosion that kills nearly 300 men. Russia seizes the Crimea peninsula and drools over Ukraine. China’s one-child policy purrs along in its assembly line of death. An estimated 900 million people living with chronic hunger. And we don’t need to go into stuff like drug and alcohol addictions, the redefinition of marriage, human trafficking. Like I said, evil can feel so overwhelming in this world.
You know no one who is serious about following Jesus can help but be burdened by these examples of evils. It seems that sin keeps seeking to rival God for infinitude, but I was reading a blog post the other day that had some great advice about how we Christians can respond to the crushing weight of human wrongdoing. First, the blog post said that Christians should recognize that we will never ever do away with evil. This should not make us complacent, but rather should safeguard us from the lie that evil can be done away with permanently. Because if we expect we can get rid of all wrongdoing, we’ll quickly become disillusioned. And once we fall prey to disillusionment, we only concede more ground to the enemy. Christians need to recognize that our efforts to advance Christ’s love in a fallen world will never be sufficient or final. But we can make a difference in a couple of areas and in a handful of lives right close to us.
Next, Christians need to see that opportunities for doing good are absolutely innumerable. There are thousands of Christian ministries addressing everything from disaster relief to persecution, plus our churches provide all sorts of opportunities for ministry, from neighborhood evangelism and urban outreach to clothing and senior care. The fact that you cannot do everything does not mean that you cannot do some things and do them in a manner worthy of your Lord. He gives us the privilege of being used by Him in specific ways and for specific tasks.
So my advice if you feel overwhelmed by the evil in this world: Do what I do. Find a ministry in which you can pour your time and energy. For me, it’s Joni and Friends and the difference we are making for Christ among the world’s disabled. For you, it could be another ministry, or something as close as your own church. So get involved. First Peter 4:10 says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others.” It’s one way — perhaps the best way — to keep the enemy from gaining ground.
© Joni and Friends
Compliments of Joni and Friends
PO Box 3333 Agoura Hills, CA 91376