Living out the Gospel

A passage from Tom Davis's Red Letters:

(ALL of you should stop reading right now and go buy this book...seriously)

I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. "When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. "When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."

[Jeremiah 29:11-14, The Message]

As I've come to recognize the diversity of living conditions and circumstances in our world, I've had to ask myself some tough questions: Does this Jeremiah passage apply to everyone or just to those of us who live in wealthy countries? Does it pack the same kind of meaning to people in developing countries; do they get to look forward to a hope and a future? Does it apply to the infant who was just infected with HIV through her mother's breast milk? Do children who have no other option but to sell their bodies for money for food get to claim this promise of a God-ordained destiny?

God says, "I will not abandon you." Put yourself in the figurative shoes (she has no real ones) of a five-year-old girl somewhere in the middle of Africa. Your father has died of AIDS and, after you've watched your mother cough up blood and shrivel to nothing for the last month and a half, she, too, is gone. How do you make sense of this passage? How do you not feel abandoned?

What do you set your hopes in? You set your hopes in people. People who might show up and offer a refuge, a safe place, a home. People who are the living embodiment of Christ himself. People like you and me. People who can show, with the actions of their heart, that God has not abandoned you at all.

God created every human being in his image, including people like this five year old girl whom the rest of the world has thrown away because of cruelty or neglect or ignorance. God has plans for each of them to have hope and a future too. Here's what I'm getting at - God does not abandon us. But sometimes, it takes the touch of God-with-skin-on to remind us of that. Perhaps you've had seasons when the silence of God echoed loudly in your heart. How did you find your way back? I expect the encouragement and prayers of others helped. And that's who we are to be to the poor and hurting in Africa - others. God's others. God has given us the tools and the resources to give hope to the hopeless. But unless we take those tools out of the closet, millions of innocent men, women, and children will continue to die without knowing that hope.

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A lot of people have told me, once they found out I was going to do missions in Africa for a year, that I was doing "such a good thing" or that "they could never do what I'm doing."

Here's the thing though: I'm not doing anything special. I'm a sinner just like you. There is nothing good in me except of that that comes from Christ. Not a single thing. I am doing nothing extraordinary here in Kenya, and if you'd told me that I would be here three years ago I would have laughed you out of the room. I am only here because God has called me to Kenya to be His hands and feet to the Rendille people and here's the thing: He's calling you to be His hands and feet too.

We as Christians are called to care for the orphan, the widow, the homeless. The lowest of the low. Our King died on the cross for the millions of Africans infected with HIV/AIDS and preventable diseases like malaria just like He died for you and me.

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." [Matthew 25:40]

Jesus even goes as far to say that how we treat these very people - the ones the world neglects and is cruelly indifferent to - is how we treat Him.

Yikes. Anybody feeling uncomfortable yet? I certainly am. How many homeless people on street corners have I avoided making eye contact with? How much do I love my Starbucks and spend my money on things I don't need but want instead of giving it to somebody who truly needs it? You don’t have to go to the other side of the world to find poverty and suffering.

I'm not trying to make you feel guilty for drinking your frappachinos...promise. What I'm saying is you don't have to come to Africa to help bring justice to the millions who, by no fault of their own, were born in Africa and not America. You can help from where you are.

Those of us in the Western world cannot sit by any longer and watch this. We are equipped with more than we could ever need; we have the very tools that can end needless suffering for millions of people - not just in Africa, but over the entire world. We have more money than the vast majority of the world can even dream of. Why don’t we stop talking about helping and actually start helping?

Did you know that 1.2 billion people in the world are estimated to live on less than $1 per day and almost 3 billion people on less than $2 a day? That's 3.9 billion people out of a world population of almost 7 billion. Did you know that 2.5 million children die every year from malaria...a disease that is preventable?

Overwhelmed yet? That's okay. I am too. Statistics like these upset me because it’s not fair. It’s not fair that I was born into a loving, healthy family and have never had to worry about whether or not I would have a roof over my head as I slept that evening. It’s not fair that I’ve never gone to sleep hungry while literally billions of people around the world do every single night.

But instead of getting upset and stopping there let's DO something about it.

“We, as Christ followers, are called to continue the work Jesus began. What does this mean? It means we have to embody the good news. It means we have to do all we can to end poverty, to feed the hungry, and to find homes for the homeless. It means we have to listen to that inner voice crying for justice and act on it.”

[Tom Davis, Red Letters]

Let’s pray together. But let's not use prayer as an excuse to not actually go out and serve.

Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

[James 2:15-17]

Let’s serve together…it doesn’t have to be overseas. Serve your community. Serve your neighbors that you don’t like. Serve the homeless guy you see every morning as you drive to work. Jesus didn't tell us to love the people that are easy to love, he told us to love everybody. We can't just sit back and expect somebody else to serve for us. WE, as the Church, are called to be His hands and feet to the orphan, to the widow, to the oppressed. God holds these people in a special place in His infinite heart. We have more than the means to actually provide for people in addition to praying for them. We should be the ones on the front lines instead of waiting around for governments or even NGO’s to get there first.

Let’s give together…give our time, our efforts, and our money. If you can’t go across the world, give support to somebody who can. God calls some of us to go and he calls some of us to support. Serve the millions of orphans of Africa by donating to any number of worthwhile charitable organizations that are already on the ground there. Donate to missions organizations. Sponsor a child in need through Compassion International, Family Legacy, HopeChest, or any other Christian sponsorship program.

There is so much sin in our world…so much evil. AIDS, poverty, child trafficking, slavery…the list is never-ending. But we have Hope. Hope in Christ, and the grace to receive that hope freely. We as Christians should be loving as Christ did by bringing that hope to everyone...

Everyone.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

[Edmund Burke]