Meeting Needs

In the wake of the recent Virgina Tech tragedy, I read an interesting article discussing what creative writing teachers should do when they receive disturbing papers from their students. It basically said that English teachers are not equipped for and should not be expected to perform psychiatric evaluations. The article gave several example of cases that were so severe that the papers were taken to higher authorities, and the student was denied the right to come to class. There was some question as to whether this is the right course of action or not. Shouldn't the officials be trying to help the student rather than excluding him?

I would contend that the teachers and psychiatrists alike lack what is necessary to deal with someone like this. The most qualified of people does not have the ability to change a person's heart. And the heart of one who could senselessly kill so many is desperately wicked. He could have been medicated. He could have been managed. He could have been institutionalized. And well he should have been: the tragedy might have been avoided. But it would not have changed his heart.

Only the Spirit of God can change a heart. English teachers and psychiatrists lack what it takes to meet the need of an evil heart. What about Christians? To our shame, I think that most of us tend to avoid people like this. We think of them as beyond our reach. Well, they are beyond our reach, and so is every other person that we encounter. But they are not beyond Christ's reach. And we need to be pointing them to Him. The Virginia Tech murder spoke of Jesus but clearly did not understand who Jesus really was. Whenever I hear or senseless acts of violence, either from disturbed individuals or brainwashed terrorist groups, my heart goes out to those evil people who would have been so different if they knew my Savior. I'm also thankful, briefly wondering what would have become of me had I not come to Christ.