The death of Amy Winehouse is a tragedy indeed.  Any time someone dies at such a young age with the potential in life she had to make something of herself, makes you stop and think.  For me, I think about those people that knew her best:  her friends, her family, her business partners. I wonder if any of them tried to help her or if they just enabled her?  I wonder if anyone ever shared the truth of Jesus with her? I wonder if she ever talked with God in the middle of the night when she was alone with just her thoughts and the pain in her heart? I wonder if she ever made a decision to accept Christ as her Lord and Savior?

We tend to have such great judgmental answers for people when we have a view of their life from the outside without knowing all the facts. Our advise always seems to include the redeeming answer of how they could have become a success and not suffered such a tragic end.  And many of those answers sadly come from Christians who are more than willing to talk a great talk, but less willing to step in and make a difference themselves by getting their hands dirty.  Too many enjoy looking down their noses and hypocritically judging unbelievers for the poor choices they have made in life.

Let me ask some hard questions… When was the last time you went out on the streets to help a prostitute who was selling her body for barely enough money to support her drug habit and her children that she couldn’t bear to give up?  When was the last time you sat with someone coming off drugs as the pain of withdrawals overwhelmed their nervous system and they would rather die than go through the torment they were facing?  When was the last time you provided a meal to someone who had nothing to eat or the last time you were there for someone who was different than you? When was the last time you stepped out of your routine in life and reached out to the hurting and needy? Yeah, we talk a good talk don’t we?

Do you not see how closed off modern day Christians are from the world, and how in the process we have allowed our hypocritical judgmental attitudes to build a wall of separation between the two? We gather together at church on Sundays, and for some of us, at people’s homes during the week; we sing songs, talk of grace, and sit around to eat a meal together; but are we willing to extend a hand to those outside the church and put action to our talk? Are we willing to breach the wall of separation and reach out to the unbelievers who are in desperate need of hope and life. Are we willing to love the unlovely?  Are we willing to touch the untouchable?

There are many Amy Winehouse’s out there: people living with the consequences of poor choices and suffering from unbearable heartache and pain.  Do you care? Can you hear their cries? Can you see their tears?  Or have you put on your self-made blinders and ear plugs because their cries and tears make you uncomfortable?

How dare we judge the death of someone suffering from addiction and alcoholism when we aren’t willing to do anything ourselves to bring hope into their broken lives.  It’s time to end the gossip and the rude comments towards unbelievers and begin making a positive difference instead.

We are commanded to go into all the world and make disciples.  As Rick Warren has said, “what part of GO do you not understand?” Think about the people you know or see on a routine basis. Those that are going through a difficult season in their life right now. Are you willing to invest the time it will take to love them through their pain and to stand with them while they are at their weakest? Are you willing to be the one that walks in when everyone else walks out? Let’s be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world today. Let’s reach out and touch peoples lives leaving a lasting imprint on their heart that brings them hope and a desire to find out more about this Jesus we talk so much about. Let’s get our hands dirty and make a difference one soul at a time!