The post I have tried not to write.

Today I am burdened with a need to write a post I have thought about writing since the day I started this blog almost one year ago.  I have held off for two reason; first, I have been afraid of sounding self-righteous or like I think I know it all, second, a missionary appointee who is support raising is surely going to be seen as having an ulterior motive when talking about giving.  Today the burden is so great, I am putting those fears aside.

A few days ago Geoff and I were pulling into the driveway with the kids and Geoff could tell that I was upset.  The kids got out of the car and he said, "Let's pray, I can tell you are upset."  As he prayed, I began to cry. And cry.  Why?  It seems that Christians don't care about the lost.  There. I've said it.  I know, many of you are gasping right now.  How could she say that?!  As the tears came, I was overwhelmed by a sense of shame before the Lord.  I asked Geoff, "How can He even stand us?"  How can the Lord even tolerate us, let alone love us?  We do so little for Him, give Him so little thanks, sacrifice so little for Him.

I know we say we care about the lost, but do we live like we really care?  What are we actually sacrificing so that others may come to know Him?  Anything?  Hebrews 13:16 says, "And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." God is pleased with us when we sacrifice for Him.  I am going to challenge you with a radical thought: If it doesn't hurt a little, it's not sacrifice.  It hurt God to send His Son.  It hurt Jesus to die on the cross.  It is going to hurt us to say goodbye to our family, friends, dogs.  True sacrifice involves giving something up.  However, it's not all about the pain.  There is blessing in the giving up.  Matthew 16:25, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."

And don't forget,  all we have is really His.  He owns it all, but entrusts us with some.  Why?  So that we can invest it on His behalf and grow His kingdom.  How else would missionaries go out?  How else do we meet the needs of those in physical and spiritual poverty?  It has to be the Christian!  We cannot expect the non-Christian, living in spiritual poverty themselves, to care about meeting the spiritual needs of the lost.  It rests on our shoulders and out of love for Him we should be eager to share what we have been given.

Many may say, "I really want to do more, but times are tough in the world today."  I would challenge that thinking.  Really, are times really tough?  We are sitting in homes that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, owning multiple vehicles, eating out, watching flat screen tv's.  Are times really that tough for us here in the U.S.?  Did you know that if you make $25,000/year, you are among the wealthiest 10% of the world's population?  If you make $50,000/year, you are richer than 99% of the world?(Global Rich List)  One half of the world's 6.7 billion people live on less than two dollars/day.  Are these really tough times?

We have the resources, whether we want to admit it or not, but are we willing to sacrifice?  James 4:17 says, "Anyone who knows the good they ought to do, but doesn't, sins." It's pretty clear.  If we know that people are suffering, dying, without the Lord, and if we know that they need our help, and choose to turn the other direction rather than sacrifice our time, money, energy, to do something about it, we are sinning.  God has to be sickened by us, the Church, big C.  I love what Richard Stearns says in The Hole in our Gospel, "We are God's Plan A, He doesn't have a Plan B."  We are it.  If we love God and truly appreciate what He has done for us, how can we not act?  We must care about what He cares about.  What does God care about?  Bringing the lost to Himself and being glorified through His children.  Hoarding our resources is preventing people from being saved and served.  Period.

"Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

As Christians, we are either called to go or to send.  It's one or the other.  If you are in Christ, you are to be involved in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20).  Ask God if He might want to send you (and be ready for His answer).  If you are not called to go, then send those who are.  This life is but a grain of sand on all of the beaches of the earth.  When Jesus returns, what will we have to show for the gifts He gave us?  Thousands of dollars of Starbucks receipts or souls in heaven because we were obedient to His call? Let's live with the goal of hearing these words someday, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"