I'm sure you are all very familiar with the recent uproar that surfaced when a video was posted online of a young boy that fell into a gorilla enclosure, which ultimately led to the gorilla being shot to death in order to save the child. If you haven't heard anything about this story, crawl out from underneath your rock and Google it for a moment. (But really, how have you not heard about this chaos?) Bottom line, people were offended that the gorilla was killed.
They protested (because obviously that was going to fix the fact that the gorilla died), they rambled on and on through long Facebook posts, and they made the news. In an attempt to say that they wanted the gorilla to live though, to me, that translates to the idea that they would rather the child die. The zoo said that tranquilizers were not an option because it would not begin to work fast enough in order to save the small child. The gorilla was harming the boy and easily could've caused further damage, or potentially, death. Regardless of how the boy got himself into this mess, the damage was done and he needed saving. His mistake was going to hurt him, whether he knew it or not. It took a drastic act to get him the help he needed.
Geez, does this sound familiar to anyone? Sounds to me like my life story and the story of salvation. Sometimes we test the limits and break the rules. We don't think it will actually hurt us because it just looks fun, right? Wrong. It always backfires on us. We end up in a dangerous mess that we never intended to get into and we need someone to help us out. That's why Jesus came along. He bore the consequences of our mistakes and died in our place. Many would say that gorilla was innocent, but he took the penalty of death in order to save one little boy. It was the necessary action, though it wasn't the easy choice. And the internet blew up.
Let me ask you this — If we are so willing to go on and on about a gorilla, share posts, write long statuses and ramble on to our friends about this topic, how much more willing should we be to talk about something that actually matters? Like, I don't know, the GOSPEL? I'm just as guilty of this as the next guy, but this hit me hard. Why are we wasting our time talking about the "sacrifice" of an animal for one little boy, when we could talk about the great sacrifice of the Son of God for ALL people? I think it's time that we use our words wisely and bring Him glory instead of wasting the time and breath we've been given. I pray that we re-prioritize our lives and let every breath bring Him praise.
