it’s all about obeying really!

first of all – when discussing sin in light of our role in “changing the world” i think we can start with the measures by which we, as humans rank our sin – did it hurt me? did it hurt someone else? was there any long term effects? – then, on a scale from 1 to 10 where 10=hellfire, we have lying, gossiping, stealing, idolatry, adultery, murder…you know how it goes – but what was it that plummetted the human race into sin in the first place? Adam and Eve ate an apple – not inherently evil, but it was a direct contradiction to the Word they were given from God.

God gives us a Word/instruction if you will – a leading by the Holy Spirit. But how often is this small voice quenched by the multitude of other voices we’re so “privy” too in our culture?

i’m going somewhere will all of this, i promise.

have you ever heard the song Hosanna by Brooke Fraser? There’s a line in it that says “Break my heart for what breaks Yours”. For the past few months, this has really been my prayer. As i was praying this, God started revealing to me areas and things in my life that He wanted me to release. Surely, He must have misheard me. These things, they are not corrupt, they were not inherently evil, it wasn’t hurting me or anybody i knew, but He kept bringing it up. So I said Lord, I want to see what you see, i want to love what you love.
And again, He kept bringing to my attention what he was asking me to release. So after much wrestling and trying to reason away that “voice”, i obeyed it. 2 days later, i was presented with the opportunity to sponsor a child in Africa and was able to act because the release of the first thing provided me the step to the next.

our journey will always require us to take one step at a time. i think that God chooses not to reveal to us the whole journey, because he doesn’t want us walking this life in our own strenght but in His.

while i was feeling good for obeying, i still felt like my single sponsorship wasn’t even going to make a dent in the issue of poverty in the world. then God quickened this verse to my attention. and we’ve all heard it hundreds of times.

Matthew 25:35-40
35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

this time it was a single word in verse 40 that struck me. inasmuch as you did it to ONE of the least of these…

if we would give ear to His voice and let it become more familar to us than anything in this world, we can’t really go wrong. Do we, in our own strength and with our finite minds try to come up with all the ways in which WE will solve the problem of poverty or do we trust the living God, the creator, who knows every detail of every human life to just show us the next step as we walk in obedience.

maybe none of this had anything to do with what you were talking about, but nevertheless, that’s my piece.