I was underground, at Earls Court tube station, when the alarms went off. Then there was a recorded message: loud, forceful, attention-grabbing: "Due to an incident, all passengers must vacate the station immediately". For a moment there was silence. Then one elderly lady stood up from her seat and began to make her away along the platform to the exit. No one else moved - including me.
A few seconds later: "That was a test of our fire-alarm system. We apologise for any inconvenience". This time the announcement was much quieter - so much so that the old lady didn't hear it. Another passenger stopped her, and explained that she didn't need to leave after all - after which we all watched her make her way slowly back to her seat.
Why didn't I move? My first thought was: "Oh no, now I'll miss my flight", followed swiftly by: "I'll wait a moment to see if it's real or not". I didn't believe the warning - and my guess is that's why no one else moved either. Our default position was disbelief.
I wondered if that's true for people when they hear the warning message of the gospel. No matter how loud or clear it is - how forcefully proclaimed - their default position is disbelief. Maybe I need to pray that people will be like that elderly lady: that they will hear the warning, and respond to it.
No comments:
Post a Comment