When the message is this loud and this clear, why do we still fail to respond?
I am reminded of the scripture and the specific verse in Matt 25:43 “Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—
I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’
(The Message)
This video just broke my heart again. Clips in it I have seen before, in other broadcasts, and yet forgot so quickly the heart rending images of children barely older than 3 helping younger ones to bed down in the street, comforting each other, helping each other up, the pictures of children in absolute despair, in absolute abandonment, as I reach for my new model Blackberry lying next to my previously new Blackberry, to call the pizza delivery guy for another cheese-laden meal to fill the gap created after the one I had 2 hours ago, all home delivered so that I do not have to tear my eyes away from my 42 inch flatscreen LCD just in case I miss the second re-run of my favorite show!
I hang my head in shame! Is this compassion? Is this a true reflection of 1 Cor 13 love? I look at the Leona Lewis video, stick out my hand and pray over the kids I see there. O, it may help, God’s word never returns empty, there’s power in prayer, and o, lest I forget it’s so much more comfortable doing it from my armchair. Is this Christianity? Is it really right for me to throw my tithe into yet another church hungry for yet another steepled building with golden pews, rock band stage and a bible school to make Harvard look lame? Is this really the time we live in when we feel that the few Christian champions out there actually working the streets, getting dirt under their nails, risking life and limb, only need our prayers and our money? Is this really the time to stop when we see these creatures dying out there, to check and ask ‘is this God’s will for me to help?’ !
My heart cries out today for the pain and suffering we as Christians cause the world, when we do not step up, when we hide behind our champions who are, and point to them and ’support’ them instead with lovely words and even some cash! I say all this, but my own heart is heavy with shame, because I have become what I hated the most, a Christian living Christian life through words alone, too comfortable to step out of my comfort zone, too self assured that where I am now is where ‘God’ wants me to be, too ’seriously’ involved in my local church standing in the audience each Sunday for a singalong and prayer! Too busy to be His hands and feet, too deaf in my own needs to see those of others, just too busy.
And I gasp at the fact that if God ever felt that way about me I would be dead in a second, if He had to stop caring about my little life, about my problems, about my situation, if His compassion only went as far as the small change in my pocket or the next hour or when His favorite TV show started I would be as nothing, as if I never existed. Yet I do exist, I am alive, despite my utterly selfish life there is a Creator out there who cares for me so that my life matters to Him, my problems He made His problems, my illnesses and my hardships He took on Himself, my sins my rebellion against all that is good, that is Godly, He forgave and paid for my full pardon as if it all never existed, so that I may live! I have forgotten that too.
Between the stress of working, and running from creditor phone-calls, and finding some desperate excuse for being busy, I have forgotten His own example, His sacrifice, the price He paid for me, so that I would not have to be in a dusty old street, lying in a gutter, hungry and desperate for a human touch, for some compassion, for a life beyond the despair of abandonment. He loves me as I am and He came down from heaven to show me that love, down into my street, breathing my dust, smelling my dirt, sharing my burdens, just to show me His love. And this is it, this is where He is so different from us, because His love is SHOWN, its SHOWN despite of any cost, it is SHOWN LOVE that does so at all costs!
And now watching the video again, I realize that this is what is missing, there is no shown love, other than from little ones to little ones. There are champions working out there, I know, we call them relief workers, charity workers, even missionaries like Pieter and Rika Boersma, but they are not the church collective, they are only individuals pressed on by their own compassion to try and stem this tide of misery and not winning. So I realize that it is me who needs to step up, along with those in my pew, it is me who needs to move beyond my comfort zone and miss out on my daily Starbucks to feed someone else a breakfast or even a meal for the entire day for the value of my sacrificed skinny late.
I don’t really know how to begin, but perhaps it needs to be at the next traffic light when the kids come begging, perhaps at the next street corner where the children are sleeping on the grass, maybe by volunteering some of my time for the local shelter, I don’t know, but I don’t want to feel this way when next I watch a video like this. So I am confident of this that I will change today, and start making a difference as a common Christian amongst many, and I will not only rely on those few champions out there in the world trying their hands at stopping the tide, but I will step up and give a hand myself! God willing this change will be permanent for once.
Tags: children, christian, De Lange, family, johan, leona lewis
