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Every time there’s a sick, evil tragedy like what happened yesterday in Nashville, many of us are inclined to pray. Doing so invites the usual scoffers who say things like, “your ‘thoughts and prayers’ are worthless,” while exploiting the devastation as an opportunity for new legislation. (You’re likely to find several of these folks in the comments below.)

But they’re wrong. We may not understand why these things happen, but I believe prayers absolutely do matter, and there are many families in Nashville and elsewhere who desperately need ours right now:

The three families who will never see their children again. Other families of faculty members who were also killed. The survivors, who will likely be traumatized for decades to come. And those police officers who, based on bodycam footage released this morning, appeared to perform like true heroes yesterday.

The blame lies squarely at the foot of the assailant. For someone who is bent on mass murder, do we honestly believe outlawing his/her first weapon of choice will somehow be a deterrent. Of course not, which means legislation for the sake of “doing something” won’t do anything at all. It’s just a lazy way to avoid answering the hard but necessary questions that actually would make a difference. Questions like…

How do we raise children who are resilient instead of fragile and ill-equipped to deal with life? How do we make sure we’re treating mental health problems instead of exacerbating them? How do we strengthen families instead of marginalizing them? How do we reduce cultural decay instead of celebrating it? How do we come alongside others who need help, instead of leaving them to fend for themselves? And perhaps most important, how do we restore our spiritual and moral values, instead of pretending they don’t matter?

If you’re looking to the government to reduce this kind of senseless violence, I fear you’re looking in the wrong place. Instead, each of us has a responsibility within our own households, schools, communities, and churches to make sure we’re all answering these hard but necessary questions. In the meantime, our hearts are broken over what happened yesterday in Nashville, and we will continue to pray – unapologetically – for those families.