Without question, the often-mentioned "global resources" of the major television networks have greatly increased everyone's awareness of events taking place anywhere on the earth, or, as they say, "around the world." Add to that wireless telephones and the Internet, and sights and sounds of events anywhere in the world are streaming into everyone's home, office, or school in real time or just minutes after they occur. Every day brings us new headlines, new images and new accounts of events that range in magnitude from altering one life to altering the lives of all of the world's peoples.
Christians believe that history is on a course, determined by a sovereign God, and that both the passage of time, as well as the sequence of events, is moving us inexorably toward an end goal which He has revealed to us in the Bible. This by itself should make Christians attentive to current events; however, I would like to offer two additional reasons to pay attention to current events.
During his ministry on earth, Jesus paid attention to current events. Luke 13 records his comments on a tower that fell in a town called Siloam, killing eighteen people. Here was an event that had everyone's attention. Everyone in the region was talking about this tragedy. Jesus chose to enter into the discussion and comment on what he was hearing "on the street." He asked his hearers, "Think ye that they [the eighteen people who died] were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem (Luke 13:4)?
Here, Jesus shows us an important reason for Christians to be informed world citizens. When disasters strike, people ask deep questions. These questions often have to do with the meaning or meaninglessness of life. They ask about death, and they ask about God and whether God may be displeased or may be dispensing judgment. Christians can offer correction to some faulty thinking and wild speculation. Of course, to do this, we must also take our own understanding from Jesus.
Answering the question he had posed, Jesus went on to say: "Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:5). We can learn from Jesus that it is neither helpful nor necessary to suggest that people or countries are being subjected to God's judgment when disturbing events occur. All people must take to heart that human life is truly fragile and utterly uncertain. Likewise, it is important to teach all people that any and every human contrivance designed to keep them safe from dreaded eventualities will ultimately fail. All the living must be told that their Creator desires to be their ultimate Protector and Savior. This requires both awareness and engagement.
John 5:19 gives us another reason why Jesus paid attention to current events. Jesus said, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he [the Father] doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." Apparently Jesus learned where the Father was working and what the Father was doing by taking note of the people and events around him. He would then work in concert with the Father to introduce people to the Messiah, Himself, and to the kingdom of heaven.
This explains why the disciples, on returning to Jacob's well from the nearby village, found their Master engaged in conversation with a Samaritan woman. When she left them, they offered Jesus some lunch from the food they had bought, but he declined, saying, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work"(John 4:34). Engaging in evangelistic work in concert with the Father was far more satisfying and invigorating for Jesus than any lunch or any other mere human endeavor could ever be.
Jesus saw the Father's preparatory work in that encounter at the well, and he knew that there were many others, besides the woman he had visited with, in that Samaritan village who were longing for the Messiah. Thanks to the woman's testimony and Jesus' decision to stay for another day to speak with them, "Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him. . . .for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world"(John 4:39-42).
Christians are often quick to pray for people, cities, and nations caught in tragedy or turmoil. We must, however, at the same time pray for ourselves and for Christ's church. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit will give Christ's church "corrective lenses" so that we will see where God is working and what God is doing. Without this, we will remain as clueless as the disciples were when they rejoined Jesus at the well.
Being aware of current events on any level (e.g. local, national or international) allows willing, caring, Christians to humbly engage people who are reeling from loss and wrestling with questions. When Christians earnestly plead with the Father to give them the "eyes of Christ," he equips them to discern in the people and events around them, where he is working and what he is doing. This, in turn, makes it possible to participate in concert with our Savior God in his great work of reconciling broken and lost people to himself through faith in Jesus, the Christ.