Paul Tripp: It's not that we fail to love our enemies or people that we don't know; you and I struggle to love the people that we say we love.

Kate Crowley: From Paul Tripp Ministries, this is Right Here, Right Now, connecting the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life. Here now is Paul Tripp.

Paul Tripp: A red Fiat rolled slowly through the darkness into a parking space adjacent to the Long Island Railroad Station in Kew Gardens. The young woman behind the wheel emerged from the car and locked it. She began the hundred foot walk toward her apartment house at 8270 Austin Street, but then she had spotted a man standing along her route.

Apparently afraid, she changed direction and headed toward the intersection of Austin and Leverage Boulevard where there was a police call box. Suddenly, the man overtook her and grabbed her. She screamed; residents of the nearby apartment houses turned on their lights and threw open the windows. The woman screamed again. "Oh, my God, please help me."

The man in the window shouted, "Let that girl alone!" The attacker walked away; apartment lights when out, and the windows slammed shut.

The victim staggered toward her apartment, but the attacker returned again. "I'm dying!" she cried. The windows opened again; the attacker entered a car and drove away. Windows closed, but the attacker soon came back again. This time he killed her. It was not until 3:50 that morning that a neighbor of the victim called police. Officers arrived 2 minutes later and found the body.

They identified the victim as Kitty Genovese. She had been returning from her job. "Kitty Genovese"...it was a name that would become symbolic in the public mind for a dark side of a national character. It would stand for Americans who were too indifferent, or too frightened, or too alienated, or too self-absorbed to get involved.

Detectives investigating Genovese's murder discovered that no fewer than 38 of her neighbors had witnessed at least one of her killer's three attacks, but had neither come to her aid, nor called the police. The one call made to the police...the one call that was made to the police came after Genovese was already dead.

Music: "When The Deal Goes Down" by Bob Dylan

In the still of the night, in the world's ancient light
Where wisdom grows up in strife
My bewildering brain, toils in vain
Through the darkness on the pathways of life
Each invisible prayer is like a cloud in the air
Tomorrow keeps turning around
We live and we die, we know not why
But I'll be with you when the deal goes down

Kate Crowley: Paul will be right back with more intriguing thoughts on "Survival Skills for a Fallen World" here on Right Here, Right Now. We do want to thank you for tuning in to this new radio outreach from Paul Tripp Ministries. Remember, you can now hear Paul each weekday at 11 A.M. on WFIL. Tell your friends about us, and we also have a number of resources designed to encourage you in your marriage, ministry, and many other areas.

This includes Lost In The Middle, Paul's latest book. Just visit paultrippministries.org. That's all one word paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org. Right Here, Right Now continues with Paul Tripp.

Part of the Solution or Part of the Problem?

Paul Tripp: If you had been in that neighborhood that night, what would you have done? Maybe the question is: Are you part of the solution or part of the problem? Are you in the game, or are you content to sit on the sidelines? Do you live a passive, self-absorbed life, or do you live as if you are a part of something bigger than your own little world? Do you want to be part of what God is doing right here, right now, or are you all too absorbed in making sure that your life works in the way that you want it to work, or in a way that you planned for it to work? Are you an active participant in something that's way, way bigger than the borders of your own life?

I was a young seminary student just a few years ago, riding in a car every day with three of my fellow students. In order to get from where we all lived to where the seminary was, we had to travel through one of Philadelphia's most broken-down neighborhoods. We would occupy ourselves in that car with theological debate and seminary humor.

The only kinds of conversations that we had were the kinds of conversations that only seminary students could have. We were a bunch of guys preparing for a life of ministry, and we were working hard so that we would be prepared. What we didn't know, though, is that although we were supposedly guys who were committed to ministry, we were actually completely blind, completely blind to what was going on around us.

I don't know what happened, and I don't know why it happened, but one morning, it all became different for me. All of a sudden, my eyes were opened. All of a sudden, I was shocked at what I saw. I looked out the window, maybe it was because there was a lull in the conversation, and there was the homeless man waking up from a fitful night of trying to sleep on the sidewalk.

There were broken and graffiti-scarred buildings; there was the crack addict on the corner looking like she was a few days away from complete starvation. It's an amazing thing, but I had driven with this group of guys day, after day, after day through a sad demonstration of the destructive power of the fall and sin on human culture, but I had been completely blind. I just hadn't noticed. Here I was preparing for ministry, but with eyes so blind that I couldn't see the crying need for ministry that was right before my eyes day after day.

Are you blind? Do your ears fail to hear? I mean, it happens to all of us. Are you so occupied with your personal plans and purposes, so occupied with what you have planned for the day, so busy at what you want your life to be, so hard at work to accomplish what you want to accomplish that you fail to see and you fail to hear? Think about it. When it comes to the need that is all around you, are you all too blind, all too deaf, and all too passive?

Music: "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sounds of silence

Living in a Broken World

Paul Tripp: You don't need me to tell you that you and I live in a broken world. The brokenness of our world is all around us. We see the evidence of it in politics and entertainment, in personal relationships, in the family, at the workplace, in the church, in every community that every person lives in everywhere. That brokenness is there. And we all know that there are all kinds of redemptive work to be done.

We all know that God has called each of His children to be part of what He is doing on earth. We all know that there's never a day when we aren't supposed to be part of what He wants to do with that brokenness of sin and all the needs that result from it. Our world is a world filled with need because the world doesn't function the way it was meant to function, and we all know that God is not satisfied with the condition of the world, and we should not be satisfied either.

I think, for most of us, our problem isn't that we're dissatisfied, our problem is we're all too able to be satisfied with things that we should never be satisfied with. So, if we know the world is broken, if we know that we are called be part of this restoration, if we know that God's not satisfied, then why are we often so inactive, so passive, so uninvolved? Why are we comfortable with passivity? What in the world, what in the world allows us to be so blind?

It's pretty clear in Scripture that human beings were created for transcendency. We were all made to be part of something bigger than our own lives. That's why, when the lady who wins the beauty contest talks about what she'd like to do with her reign, she says she'd like to solve world hunger, create world peace, and release all of the caged parakeets in the entire world. She has a desire to be part of something big, something transcendent, something bigger than her own life.

We were made to be part of something bigger than just our own little worlds. We were never meant to have our entire energies absorbed by our own little wants and our own little needs. But think about it; that's exactly what happens to all of us. I would imagine you're like me, when you wake up the morning, you're immediately flooded with what you want to do that day, what you need that day with your own plans and purposes, and there's a way in which that's not a bad thing, but it shouldn't be the thing that absorbs all of our life and all of our energies.

Think about your family; if you're a parent of young children, think about this. Are you ever angry when your kids are fighting, and you, once again, have to get out of your seat and away from the TV to spend time, once more, as the family peace officer? You see, it's not that we fail to love our enemies or people that we don't know; you and I struggle to love the people that we say we love.

And so, in your irritation, you stomp down the hallway toward the room of your children, ready to say these helpful words of ministry. "Do you know what my day has been like? Do you have a clue what I do? I do and do for you, and this is the thanks I get? I don't need a mansion. I don't need a Rolls-Royce, just children who are from earth. I bought every shred of clothes you put on your back. I made every morsel of food you ever put your mouth. I made your Christmases happy."

Now, do you think that you're letting it rip...that your children are standing there thinking, "My, this is helpful. I'm so glad this person is in my life. I'm just seeing things about my heart. I'm just learning so much." No! You know that's not what's going on. You see, what your children are going to do is they are going to give you a series of quick non-answers with the hope that you will get out of the room real soon, and this uncomfortable moment will be gone.

Why are you and I angry in those moments? Why do we tend to personalize what is not personal? Why do we tend to be adversarial in our responses? Why do we tend to turn moments of ministry into moments of anger? Why do we tend to settle for quick, situational solutions that don't really result in any lasting change? Do you know why? It's humbling to admit it, but it's important to admit it.

We do that because, in those moments, we're being asked by God to step out of our own wants, and to step out of our own desires, step out of our own purposes, step out of our own sense of needs, and to be part of something bigger than what has gripped us at that moment.

There was a French scientist called Henri Dubois. Henri Dubois was given the job of coming up with a way of assuring that the perishable foods that French soldiers would be eating during World War I would not spoil and make them sick. And Henri Dubois came up with an amazing invention that is still, to this day, in all of our lives. It's shrink wrap, and he created this plastic substance that, when sealed with a vacuum, would wrap itself around the exact size of whatever it is placed around.

Why do I mention Henri Dubois?...because I am deeply persuaded that sin is the ultimate shrink wrap. What sin does is it causes all of us to shrink our lives to the size of our lives. Sin makes us all comfortable with living in the claustrophobic confines of our own little self-defined worlds, when instead...God has welcomed us to the big sky country of His transcendent kingdom to be part of the most important work in the universe--redemption.

Do you know why your ears heard the fighting of your children?...because God loves them, and He wants you to be part of His loving rescue. And God loves you. Every day, God somehow, some way, gives each of us an opportunity to be part of something bigger than the solitary kingdom of self that we often get so committed to. Every day, He calls us beyond the borders of the things that we want and the things that we've determined that we need.

Every day, God honors you with the opportunity to be part of something bigger. Every day, each of us lives with the temptation to shrink our lives to the size of our lives, to live blind and self-absorbed lives, and to be all too concerned and all too passive. Where is God giving you opportunities today to exit the confines of your little kingdom of self and to be part of the good thing that God is doing in the world around you? Where is He giving you your opportunities?

Music: "Be Thou My Vision" words by Dallen Forgaill

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

The Lesson of Kitty Genovese

Paul Tripp: Let's go back to the story of poor Kitty Genovese. Think about it. Kitty died, not because there were no people near, and not because no one saw or heard; there were 38 different people who, at some point in that horrible death who heard, who knew, who heard what was going on. Why did Kitty die? She died because people were too busy, too afraid, too self-absorbed to put out to get involved. It's a pretty shocking thing: 38 people too busy, too afraid, too self-absorbed to get involved.

In Matthew 5, Jesus likens His followers to salt and light, great examples. Salt was used in biblical times to retard the decay of meat. We all know light is used to drive away darkness. Why does Jesus use these illustrations?...because He wants us to know that God has placed us in this world to be His instruments. There's a meaning and purpose to our lives in this broken, fallen world. He wants us to be there to retard the decay of sin and to drive away its darkness.

But think about this. Salt only works when it's in contact with the decay; and light only does its work when it's in contact with the darkness. So, God is calling each of us, as we live in this fallen world, to step away from the passivity and blindness of self-absorption, to step with Him as He works to restore His world. God is calling you to exit the confines of your claustrophobic little kingdom of self, to enter into the big sky world of His transcendent kingdom of redemption. Does that not sound practical to you? Well, it's very practical. That call will shape the way you live every day.

What does this mean? It means you start where you live; you determine to be engaged; you determine to act. It means you give yourself to the redemptive activism of justice, and mercy, and compassion, and love, and giving, and service. You are not willing to be passive. What does that mean? Well, it's costly.

It means being willing to have your schedule interrupted and your plans complicated; it means being willing to sacrifice time, and to sacrifice money, and to sacrifice personal energy. It means actually, and this is hard for us, to find greater joy in what God is doing than in what you are wanting. Here's what it actually means: Unlike the people that surrounded Kitty Genovese that horrible evening, it means living with your eyes open, and your ears open, and your heart open with a desire that you can be part of that amazing work of restoration that God is so determined to do in this fallen world.

(Music Interlude)

Paul Tripp: If you are going to resist passivity, then you must start by humbly owning your selfishness. It's hard to do. None of us like to think of ourselves as being selfish. We all do a pretty good job of recognizing the selfishness of somebody else, but we all find it real hard to admit that we're selfish, but you see, that's what sin does to us. Sin is the ultimate shrink wrap; it does really cause us to want to shrink our lives to nothing bigger than the size of our lives, and the fact is that as long as sin lives inside of each one of us, we'll keep shrinking our lives to the size of our lives.

So if you're ever going to be part of what God is doing on earth, you have to begin with acknowledging the inward inertia of your sin; you have to acknowledge the powerful draw of self-absorption. If you want to be part of God's system of help, you have to admit your need of help. If you want to be part of God's system of help, you have to admit your need of help. If you want to quit being passive, if you want to be part of God's work of rescue, you have to start by admitting that you, too, need to be rescued from something, and that something is you. Unless God rescues you from you, you will never be part of the bigger thing that He's doing.

You see, Jesus came so that you and I would not be captive to ourselves. His grace is able to release you from your self-absorbed prison and help you be part of what God is doing. If you want to help, then reach out for God's help; reach out for God's help right here, right now.

Kate Crowley: Admitting you don't have to do it on your own, Paul Tripp's important thought on today's program. Well, we're glad you could join Paul for this series titled "Survival Skills for a Fallen World" on today's edition of Right Here, Right Now. And if you are looking for support as you strive to survive, Paul wants you to know there is hope. In his book, Lost In The Middle, Paul Tripp explains how your struggles can be exactly what God wants to use to bring you moments of grace. That's Lost In The Middle, Paul's new book. And you can request a copy when you visit paultrippministries.org. That's paultripp, T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org.

Remember, you can also listen to these programs again on CD or sign up for the daily podcast. CD copies of today's broadcast are available for only five dollars. You can get these and other resources at paultrippministries.org, or call us at 800-551-6595; that's toll-free 800-551-6595. Right Here, Right Now could use your help in spreading the news of hope in Jesus Christ. If you'd like to have a part in this outreach, you can give online at paultrippministries.org. Just click on 'Ministry Support', or write to us at 7214 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19135.

Next time, Paul continues his look at "Survival Skills for a Fallen World," an intriguing lesson entitled, "Resist Spirituality;" that's Monday. And this is Kate Crowley, and for all of us at Paul Tripp Ministries, have a great weekend. And remember, in Jesus Christ, there really is help right here, right now.