Partners in crime.

"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2:3-5, ESV)



I bet I can guess some of the first images that come to your mind when you hear the phrase "partners in crime"...

Your best friend.
Your sibling.
Bonnie and Clyde.
Your spouse.
Timon and Pumba. You know it's true.
Batman and Robin.

Since moving to Nepal, my new top picture is Evil and Apathy. They are a caustic duo that is ravaging the world.

It seems as though every day another tragedy has occurred. Whether it's in Missouri, Ukraine, Israel, Iraq, Liberia. You name it, something horrible is happening. We are encountered by evil every day, whether or not we choose to see it.

And it continues to be appalling.

Appalling that these things are happening. That people are capable of actually enacting and enabling these horrific things. And appalling that so many more people are sitting around watching it happen.

Sure, we feel outrage when someone is killed unjustly, whatever the circumstance. We feel angry that countries can't seem to work out their problems peaceably.

And yet there we sit. On our couch. At our desk. At the kitchen table. In a coffee shop. Some of us trying to wrap our minds around the evil we see so blatantly played out in front of us. Others turning the newspaper page to read the comics or the sport articles. Trying to push the atrocities from our minds.

Because it's easier. It's more comfortable. We don't have to become involved or get sucked in.

Sure, we know that South East Asia has one of the largest sex trafficking trades in the world. Sure, we know that people are being stolen, then bought and sold into slavery. Sure, we know that people are dying every single day from very curable diseases. Sure, we hear about children being abandoned because their parents don't want them anymore.

And we turn our heads to shield our eyes. To guard our minds. To forgo the breaking of our hearts.

We have become apathetic. We have become partners in crime with the evil around us.

We pretend that having the correct perspective on an issue is good enough. That being cognizant of current events will suffice. We want to have an opinion, and to let everyone around us know what that opinion is. But we don't want to be involved.

We don't want to get our hands dirty.

We enjoy residing in our bubbles. They are safe and comfortable. Easy and enjoyable.

But we forget a very important detail...these tragedies effect real people.

Imagine if it was your spouse who was killed in a bombing. Your child who was shot by a police officer. Your house that was destroyed in flash flooding. Your country that was ravished and torn apart by your neighbor.

Imagine that you couldn't escape. You couldn't just flip the page, or click on a different link.

You would want someone to care. You would want someone to take action to help you.

Now, I know that you probably can't garner a peace treaty between Israel and Gaza. I know you probably can't cure Ebola. I get that you can't single-handedly stop sex trafficking. That you can't adopt every orphaned child.

But you CAN do SOMETHING. You can start to peel away the guard of apathy that has been placed on your heart, and that society has condoned. You can do more than just care. You can take action.

There is no way that these people can be freed from this evil unless we carry them to Jesus.

Together we can give evil and apathy a swift kick in the butt.