God loves you
illy Graham passed away last week. Graham is one of a few people who doesn't need a title or adjectives to attend his name, nor would he want any.
He would want,
“God loves you,” to accompany his name because the gospel was the sole message, means and end of his life on earth.
Graham's passing has been a respite from 24/7 crises that pollute our culture, a time to recollect, pass on stories, and reflect on memories. I attended one of his crusades in Knoxville when I was in high school. Our church's youth group took a bus, and enjoyed a few days in Gatlinburg and the Smokey Mountains. Apparently, high school in the 60's and 70's was much different from what it has become.
Today, scuttlebutt in some circles of faith points out signs of the times, i.e. how things have changed. I've heard doomsday predictions my whole life and have wondered how really different the real “end times” would be from any of our own times. The apostle Paul told his protégé Timothy: “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power….”
Recently a friend told me he believes humankind is getting better with each generation. We're certainly doing things faster with less thought, but I'm not sure that's such a good thing. In the same passage quoted above, Paul notes, people are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Billy Graham came to the knowledge of the truth early in his life, and he literally lived everyday to share the truth that God loves every one of us regardless of how good or bad things are. Each of us should draw some sense of comfort from that thought.
The crises and divisions continue 24/7 in America. Are things better or worse today than they were 10 years ago, 25 years ago, 50 or 100 years ago? Seventeen people were killed in a Florida high school last week. Dozens more were killed in America's cities without much notice in the news or halls of power.
In the rest of the world, fathers, mothers, and children are tortured and murdered daily because of their professions of faith, but those brutal acts and deaths are not newsworthy in America.
America continues to change. Local tragedies take on national significance and demand strong federal responses. All issues are social issues, and all social issues are political issues. Everybody has to choose a side, and our side has to win at all costs … for the future, for the children's sakes. Otherwise, what will we become?
America, as covered by the media and stoked by partisan ideologues, has become a nation full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. God sent Billy Graham to offer us a narrative of truth, an alternative to bitterness, hate, and self-deception. We will continue learning at record rates and acquiring abilities to do more things without thinking. Graham's passing on to heaven offers a respite to come to the knowledge of the truth and believe “God loves you.”
Daniel L. Gardner is a syndicated columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com, or interact with him on the Clarion-Ledger web site http:// www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/