The Plight of the Lost Should Disturb Us

On January 13, 2012, the massive Costa Concordia cruise ship with more than 4,200 passengers and crew on board was sailing off the coast of Italy on a tour of the Mediterranean Sea. The captain deviated from his planned course and the ship struck a reef near the shore. After taking on water for a while, the ship began to sink. Abandoning his duty to the passengers and crew, Captain Francesco Schettino left the ship instead of remaining to make sure everyone could be rescued.

In a phone conversation, the local Coast Guard commander repeatedly pressed Schettino for an update on the situation. “Tell me if there are women, children and people in need there.” Failing to receive a satisfactory reply, he ordered Schettino to return to the ship. The captain responded, “You realize it’s dark and we can’t see anything?”

“You’ve been telling me that for an hour, now get back on board!” the Coast Guard official shouted. The captain was later arrested for his failure to do his duty, resulting in the deaths of more than thirty people.

Every day we are surrounded by people who will spend eternity either in Heaven or in Hell. The fact that so many are lost should disturb us. The Bible tells us that Jesus cared about the people a great deal. “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). Let your heart be stirred by the condition of the lost and do everything you can to win others to Christ.