Saturday, June 4, 2011
It's too easy...
...to get too comfortable in this world. In this life of plenty it is easy to forget who I belong to and where I am headed. Surrounded by the beauty of a comfortable house, the sureness of a bountiful pantry, several faucets the spew forth fresh, clean water that won't make any of us sick, it is easy to take all these things for granted. I don't deserve them. Yet, His grace abounds. I have all I could ever need and more. Our culture tells me that our house isn't big enough, that we should have more space, that it's crazy to have 4 girls in one small bedroom. The truth is, this is MORE than enough! We have CLEAN mattresses, books to read to learn about God's world, dishes to put all our FOOD on. How can I think I need any more!? I read about people like Katie and Christie and I am truly humbled. I am brought low as I imagine what their days are like and all the things I dare to complain about that they would welcome. After reading about them and others doing remarkable things for the Lord in difficult places, I find myself searching for the purpose in what I am doing. I know there is purpose in guiding my children each day, in wiping their noses, filling their plates- it is not for me to go to far off places and dig wells. Not at this stage in life, anyway. Still, after seeing what is out there in places like this children's "prison" in Uganda, how can I just turn away and do nothing? Proverbs 24:11 and 12 says, "Deliver those who are drawn toward death, And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, 'Surely we did not know this,' Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to His deeds?" Now I know what's out there. And only the beginning of it. There is such pain in this world. Such filth. What am I going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? We have no excuse. We have so much. How can we be in the world, but not of the world- leave behind the trappings of this life, the STUFF, the CLUTTER, the entitlement attitude, and WORK, PRAY, ACT, SERVE on behalf of those with so little...
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1 comment:
Yes, Rachel, it IS too easy. It is a constant struggle in our home, too, after reading Radical, Crazy Love, and mostly just simply studying how JESUS lived. We are constantly praying for surrender - to let go of things of this world so others can have more.
Currently, we are actually DOING the Radical challenge in the back of the book. It honestly doesn't feel like much but we are praying that we would understand and know God more through this. That we would love him better. And that, perhaps, through this year, we would be drawn to take more action. Maybe it means moving, maybe it doesn't. Maybe it means adopting, maybe it doesn't. Maybe it means givng more generously, maybe it doesn't. But we are starting with that.
We just don't want to be paralyzed. And when things seem too overwhelming, that's the first response for us. This time, we're on our knees, begging for answers from the ONE who knows.
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