“Why?”

That was the collective question the world has been grappling with the past few days when one of the greatest basketball legends died in a horrible helicopter crash. “Why did he have to die so soon?” Several faith-based organizations as well as individual believers took this as an opportunity to encourage people to reflect on the brevity of life. And then there is the flipside where people pondered: “Why cry for someone you’ve never met?”

Perhaps some might find it strange to see alpha males with tear-stained cheeks, kids in a daze when they were not even born yet when the black mamba started his career, and buildings lighting up in his memory. “They didn’t even know the guy.” But the fans felt they did, at least they knew the athlete that he was and that was all that mattered. His skills inspired and awed them like only a few did but just like a Thanos snap, was taken away for eternity. “But he is still a stranger.” Yeah but, fellow believers, you know what? Crying for a stranger should not be an alien  concept for us. In fact, it is called upon us to do so. How so? When we look at people as souls whose eternity is not secured with God. When we see them through Jesus’s eyes, it should lead us to cry for strangers as He did. 

When was the last time we cried for those whose eyes have been blinded and minds deceived (2 Cor. 4:4)? When was the last time we shared the Good News? Do we pray for our pastors and missionaries who are in the battlefield regularly? Do we give in support of effort of spreading the gospel?  While we have been asking them to think about their eternal destination, we should be asking what we have been doing in letting them know about their eternal destination.

As this tragedy gave rise to call on those who have not been born twice to reflect, it should also be a time for us who have been born twice to do the same thing. Let us not wait to grieve for their souls when they have departed but let us make “the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:16, NIV)