Oblivious
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. – 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 NKJV.
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. – Galatians 1:3-5 NKJV.
The video of a bear chasing a snowboarder in Japan has gone viral! If you haven’t seen it yet you probably will soon! Kelly Murphy was taking a video selfie of herself snowboarding down a mountain in Japan when a bear chasing her was captured on video. Murphy was at the Hakuba 47 winter sports park near Nagano in Japan. Murphy in her YouTube post of the video writes: “OMG! I was going through my snowboarding videos and I found a bear chasing me!!! I nearly got eaten!!!” The bear on the video finally gives up the chase as Murphy speeds down the mountain oblivious to the danger singing a Rihanna song.
Now some have questioned the authenticity of the video saying the bear is a brown bear when it is more likely if there had been a bear, it would have been a black bear, although there could be brown bears in the area. Really? Well, I didn’t even know there were bears in Japan and I couldn’t tell whether it was a brown bear or a black bear. Likely, Kelly Murphy had no idea there were bears in Japan either. Murphy told CNET: “The video is real, I couldn’t believe it myself when I watched it back but there it was! So scary! I’m going to stick to the easy slopes with my friends from now on, no more back country runs.” (UPI 04.13.16: theguardian 04.13.16; various other news venues including CNET)
Kelly Murphy being chased unknowingly obliviously by the bear (Whether true or not.) could describe spiritually the lost that the god of this world, the devil, is chasing seeking to destroy them (John 10:10a). The lost, those without Christ Jesus as their Savior, are blinded to their need of salvation. The lost are flying down the mountain of life with the devil blinding them from seeing that they are headed for the lake of fire and eternal damnation.
What can be done to help these poor helpless creatures, the lost, headed for eternal doom? What can I do, what can you do? We can pray for them! We can pray that Almighty God will remove their spiritual blindness before it is everlastingly too late. Jesus prayed for the lost, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).” We can pray that God will send witnesses across their paths to share the truth with them (Matthew 9:37-38). We can be one of those witnesses to the lost (2 Corinthians 5:11). We can live holy lives that will point the lost toward our Lord and Savior as we are told in Jude 1:20-23, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.” The lost may be oblivious to the danger that they are in, but we are not! Let us do what we can to save them!