When children die, I don't have a neat answer.

Have you ever seen a child die right before your eyes? I have. When I read about those 168 primary schoolgirls who were killed in last week's bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school while classes were underway in Iran, I had to close my laptop.

I just sat there.

Many children are dead. Gone. Families shattered in a single moment. And no amount of geopolitical context makes that less evil. None.

And think about the raging hate…

Bottom line upfront: I don't know what to do with all of it. But as a Christ follower, I know I'm not allowed to look away.

Here's the honest thing I have to confess first. My temptation in moments like this isn't rage. It's complete and utter withdrawal. There's this voice that says, What can you do, Arnie? You're one person. You can't stop bombs. You can't fix governments. You can't bring those kids back. And powerlessness starts to feel like a reasonable excuse for indifference. (Kind of like those feelings when I walk past a group of homeless people…).

But I've been researching this long enough to know that voice is a liar. Indifference has never been obedience. Not once. Not for a single follower of Jesus.

You know the story. Luke 10. A man was beaten and left half dead on the side of the road. Two religious men—the kind who had their theology completely sorted—walked right past him. Then came the Samaritan. The outsider. The one nobody expected to stop. Jesus wraps the whole thing up and asks which man proved to be a neighbor. And then He says something that still cuts me after all these years: Go and do likewise.

He didn't say, "Only help if you can fix the whole system." He didn't say, "Only care if your action is big enough to matter." He just said…don't cross to the other side.

Now here's where the research on mattering comes crashing into this.

We know from our recent survey findings that human beings carry a deep, God-wired need to know they are seen, valued, and able to make a difference in someone else's life. Mattering isn't ego. It's architecture. It's how God designed us to function.

And I've been sitting with this thought: isn't that exactly what evil does? It turns image-bearers into statistics. Kids become collateral. Mothers become footnotes. And then it tries to pull the rest of us into spectator mode with two lies at once—those people don't matter, and you don't matter either, because nothing you do will change anything.

The gospel will not let me believe either lie.

Every child killed matters. Every grieving mother matters. Every terrified father sheltering in rubble matters. And because they matter to God…my response matters too. Not because I'm powerful. Because I'm accountable.

So what do I actually do? Here's what I keep coming back to. I grieve first. Romans 12:15 — “weep with those who weep.” Instead of following what has become characteristic of almost all major political and social figures, where no one can ever say they were wrong much less can ever ask for forgiveness, I don't rush past the sorrow. I don't sanitize it.

As Christ followers, we are to tell the truth. If something wicked has happened, we don't hide behind tribal loyalty. Followers of Christ don't protect their side more fiercely than they protect what's actually true.

More importantly we are to refuse passive consumption. We pray. We give. We speak up. We help real people in front of us. We disciple someone. We serve where our feet actually stand. Maybe we can't stop a missile… but we can refuse to cross to the other side of the road.

And finally—remember, we are not called to be all-powerful. Just faithful. Micah 6:8 still stands. Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly. That's how I keep from going numb. I bring my heartbreak to Jesus…and then I let Him turn it into mercy.

Let me know what you do when the world breaks your heart and you feel completely powerless.

As I was reminded this week in our staff devotions, life truly is a terminal illness; more than ever, what you do today matters!

P.S. We're going to keep pulling on this thread this week on the Spiritually Fit Today podcast where we bring in an expert on raising up all those little ones in your life to follow Jesus. Also, tomorrow we're launching Back to the Bible Daily, a new podcast designed to help you center each day on God's Word. Visit https://bttb.org/bttbdaily to learn more. And check out https://bttb.org/sunday — you'll find all previous Sunday Spiritual Fitness Reviews there.