Yesterday at this conference I'm at, they showed a film called View From A Grain of Sand. It was an amazing documentary that showed the history and current issues on Afghanistan through the lives of 3 women who had been living in a refugee camp in Pakistan. And granted, it had a bit of a slant but throughout the entire video I kept thinking to myself "I'm so sorry Afghanistan." What a neglected place and a people that has been kicked around by whichever power decided to bully many innocent people...the US included (I'm sure many of you know that the US supplied arms and money to Afghanistan during the Cold War to fight the Soviet invasion...those same arms were used during their civil war and against the US army after 9/11).
Then today I attended a seminar on Social Justice. Social Justice issues are becoming all the rage lately (just turn on Oprah or follow Bono or hear about Angelina Jolie). But, the social justice issues of Afghanistan are endless: hunger, human trafficking, lack of women's rights, poverty, poor healthcare, lack of clean water, rape, illiteracy.....etc, etc, etc.
When you come face-to-face with the needs of the world it changes you forever. I know that my life could never be materially extravagant in light of everything I've seen around the world. From the blatant prostitution in Thailand, the dirty-faced beggars in India, the bruised and beaten women of Afghanistan and the glue-sniffing street kids in Kyrgyzstan there are images burned in my mind that would mean I wasn't human at all if I could push them aside without any feeling or action on my part.
But to be honest, I don't feel like the church is really doing its part to get involved in the issues and the injustices happening around the world. In the seminar I attended a small statistic stood out to me: it is estimated at approximately $13 billion would help cure hunger all over the world this year. But, in America, we will spend approximately $18 billion on pet food alone! That was a little sobering. And sometimes it seems we are leaving it up to the celebrities or "someone else" to make an impact. I'm not sure why that is...I know sometimes the issues are overwhelming. Or, there are so many things to get involved in, it's hard to choose one. But we CANNOT use that as our excuse not to get involved in the issues of the world. For one, if we espouse to be followers of Jesus Christ and yet horde our money and possessions and time all to ourselves, we are falling far short of what God intended the Church to be. There are 2100 verses in the Bible that deal with poverty. Unless you choose to selectively read the Bible, you cannot ignore those with needs in this world, no matter where you are.
The film made me cry once again for the country that has captured my heart and made a permanent mark on my life. I came back again to the reasons that I am there in that country. The sacrifices mean nothing next to getting the PRIVILEGE of being part of what God is doing in that part of the world.
So, if any of you are still reading at this point and not thinking "oh yes, just another person giving me a guilt trip" may I just encourage you to please, please live out the example of Jesus and expend yourself not just on yourself and your needs but on the others in need around you. I don't care if you move to a third world nation or not but I do hope that others are seeing Christ because of your life. I hope others are falling in love with Jesus because his love is reflected in you. Anything short of that is either piety or selfishness.
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