This last week I heard someone describe a difficult situation and then say, “But it is not time to hit the panic button.” Immediately I thought “When is it time to hit the panic button?” There are definitely times to hit the urgent button, but since panic has to do with overwhelming fear and anxiety, there aren’t many right times to hit the panic button.
My wife and I watched a special edition of 20/20 about carrying guns for protection. In an experiment, they gave a group of college students training in the use of a handgun. Most did well on the shooting range firing at a stationary target. Then they put them in stressful situations where an assailant burst into a room full of people. Almost everyone hit the panic button and most of them were “killed” by the attacker or shot the wrong people while they struggled mightily to defend themselves. Good they were using fake bullets that just left a spot of paint on their shirts. But the experiment showed how ineffective and even dangerous most of us would be in a real situation like that where pushing the panic button is almost automatic.
In several places in the Gospels Jesus finds the disciples in a bit of a panic, and each time he speaks to them of faith. Maybe the next time we are tempted to press the panic button, we need to step on the brake, take a deep breath and shift into the gear of faith. It is easier to push the button than to shift into a new gear. But only one provides the right way to go through a challenge.
Focus Scriptures
Matthew 8:23-27
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
26He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
Matthew 17:17-20
"O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." 18Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.
19Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"
20He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
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ReplyDeleteWas the word 'pain' intended for paragraph 3?
Thanks for the reminder to stay faithful. I would much rather reap the fruit of faithfulness, than the fruit of fear.
ReplyDeleteI agree panic can cause very dangerous responses, however when I saw the 20/20 episode, my take on it was a little different. It was clearly an anti-gun piece by Diane Sawyer. The students were set up to fail, against a trained professional, which does not fairly portray most gun attack situations.
ReplyDeleteI'm reminded of several stories where a real gun owner stopped a gunman and saved lives.
Here's an accurate description of the experiment shown in the 20/20 program.
http://sensiblyprogressive.blogspot.com/2009/04/abc-anti-gun-hatchet-job-on-2020.html
So true, Jennifer. One is much sweeter.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous, you may very well be right about the media piece. Even so, there is an entirely different approach, and much deeper one grounded in the nature of the Kingdom, that will lead a disciple not to up arms. Ah, but that is a subject for another day and one you will find addressed in our new book on the Kingdom coming in a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteAmen Tom. I love your mind change minutes each Monday. You get us really thinking. We all know as disciples that this world it a mess, people are angry, they have been hurt and frankly do not know what true love is.For Satan is the ruler of the world. We need to "Pick up the sword" of the Word, the Gospel of Peace and not a gun. Jesus came to save, not to judge and kill but to heal.
ReplyDelete"Save yourselves from this corrupt generation"
Dianne Hayes