11-3-25<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have all been there. Every member of the human race is different in some way or other. But one aspect we all share is that we occasionally feel alone, neglected, unloved. It might be for a short day, praise God if only that; but for some people it haunts and re-visits; for a few, God forbid, it is part of daily life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Does anybody care? <\/em>is indeed a common question. A plea from hearts and souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hallmarks of these feelings include isolation and loneliness. We have arrived at the \u201ccommunication culture,\u201d with all sorts of ways to speak and share and interact\u2026 yet everyone around us seems buried in their cell phones. They text people who are across the room. Ear buds feed them something-or-other while shutting out the rest of the world. In some ways we choose to be alone, and then lament our loneliness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, ironically, many of us ask Does anybody care?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In ancient days, even the Psalmist cried out: Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life<\/em> (Psalm 142:4). Have you been there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, people scarcely ever actually are without caring folks around them. Perhaps we might not always be aware of them, but, famously, there are puppy dogs and mothers and grandmothers. \u201cA friend in need is a friend indeed,\u201d and they might be nearby too. I am intentionally veering in to clich\u00e9s, for clich\u00e9s become clich\u00e9s because they are true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fear not: I will remind us that Jesus cares; He is that Best Friend. His promises are true to Everlasting; He is a Brother who sticks to us closer than a shadow does; His mission on earth was to save our souls by embracing His sacrifice. Perhaps worst, the contemporary world actually dismisses serious responses to emotional ills. It says to us that spiritual crises cannot be answered by spiritual solutions. Not for the first time, the World System\u2019s advice falls somewhere between foolish and suicidal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this drama, the major villain to me is Government \u2013 specifically the Socialist templates upon which most countries these days run their affairs. Don\u2019t be fooled: that includes the United States to a major degree. The latest government shutdown revealed in its coverage how many welfare, redundant, and useless programs there are, massively funded by Washingt\u2026 er, you and me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When first ran for president, Franklin Roosevelt was the anti-Big Government candidate, believe it or not. He said: \u201cThe present [Hoover] administration\u2026 has piled Bureau on Bureau, Commission on Commission. Bureaus and Bureaucrats have been retained at the expense of the taxpayers.\u201d Yet within 15 months, FDR created 92 new government agencies, and he didn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FDR\u2019s disciple Lyndon Johnson declared a War on Poverty in 1964; and after many trillions of dollars were allocated in that war, the poverty rate in America has increased exponentially. And so on. Ronald Reagan once said the nine scariest words in the English language are \u201cI\u2019m from the government and I\u2019m here to help.\u201d Yet despite him and recent reformers\u2026 government programs grow and grow, as the society sinks and sinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n St Augustine, around 300 A.D., looked back on Jesus\u2019s words The poor ye shall always have with you<\/em>, and ahead to the failure of Socialism as he addressed that reality. In his view, Jesus was not being pessimistic nor fatalistic; rather he reminds us that there will always be those who are worse off than we are. God wants us to discover, nurture, and exercise a charitable impulse. To care.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If governments usurp the role of charity \u2013 picking our pockets in order to bestow gifts elsewhere \u2013 then we no longer need to care. We surrender our rights to choose, indeed our consciences, because government agencies pick and choose for us. We stop caring\u2026 we cease looking to churches and private charities to channel our caring\u2026 and when we stop caring for others \u2013 which is the natural consequence \u2013 we eventually feel that no one cares for us, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, \u201cnot so quick,\u201d Capitalism comes in for blame, also. It is less coercive than governments, generally, and Socialism especially. However the profit motive is a two-edged sword, and greed has been cloaked by uncaring attitudes all too often. Free enterprise employs freedom, but Capitalism, in whatever varieties called \u201cFinance\u201d or \u201cCrony\u2026\u201d is pernicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, Does anybody care?<\/em> Yes, Jesus does. An extreme cynic might respond, \u201cOK\u2026 what is \u2018caring\u2019 when you are hungry or sick or friendless?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s easy. Just ask anybody \u2013 ask me \u2013 anybody who has been hungry, sick, or friendless. The ray of hope\u2026 the shoulder to cry on\u2026 the word of encouragement, can mean all the world. Especially when they are brought to by the Savior of humankind, the Lover of your soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who cares? The One who changes you from feeling like nobody cares\u2026 to knowing that Somebody cares, One Who cared enough to die for your sins, Who feels your hurts, and will fill those voids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n + + +<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I want us to think about the conditions that are real, before any remediation by spiritual life-preservers. The heart\u2019s cry Does anybody care?<\/em> is a growing, not a receding, neurosis in society. The World (secularism, pop culture, government) has myriad solutions. It prescribes drugs. It advocates mindless distractions. It encourages variations of authentic human relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n