Saturday, October 23, 2010
once upon a time or something like it.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
how can I NOT do something?
I've been doing a lot of research for my major lately. (Which is International Community Development, for those of you who don't know.) And the more I learn, the more broken I am. Almost 40 million people in the world have the AIDS virus. FORTY MILLION. A billion people don't have access to clean drinking water. Half the world is in poverty - and by "in poverty", we mean, they don't have the ability to make a dollar a day. And let's not even get into the number of people who don't know Christ.
Gah - how can these numbers not wreck you? How can it not call you to DO SOMETHING. American materialism has so wrecked us, that we can throw away our money on a four dollar cup of coffee, or a multi-hundred dollar video gaming system, and ignore those in need, the hurting, and the poor. We stand in our churches, crying out for revival, begging God to show His love to the lost - WAKE UP. YOU ARE THAT LOVE. Your money, your resources, your time are the difference between someones not only physical death, but spiritual death. How can we with good conscience continue to cry out for revival in America? We are that revival! We are the embodiment of it! No one is going to want to join up with a revival that doesn't get out of their church buildings, and into the world, showing Christ to people WHILE meeting their physical needs.
We can sit around in our multi-billion dollar churches that glorify our preachers and our architects. We can drink our designer coffee, in our designer clothes, while having "intelligent" debates on the finer points of theology, or political beliefs. We can meet for our Bible studies and prayer meetings, praying for humanity, and pat ourselves on the back for our spiritual superiority. OR.... OR JUST MAYBE - we can get out of our selfish, self consumed, shallow bubbles and BE HIS LOVE. Live it! Show it! Invest in it!
There is a hurting, broken world out there - so much bigger than your relationship problems or drama. And their is a loving, kind, satisfying Savior that is waiting to meet with those people. But just like Jesus wouldn't go into Jerusalem unless He was riding on that Colt - He can't go out into the world unless YOU carry Him. If you aren't willing to carry the gospel, ITS NOT GOING.
There is a church that needs to start acting like the loving, compassionate hands of Christ... and that can only start with the individual Christian.