"Prove your faith, and make this your status!"
We've all seen statuses like this on facebook. They try to convince us that to be a christian, we have to take what we just read and make it our own status. Sometimes, they even try to guilt us into doing so, and say things like "Jesus knows you read this! If you deny Him now, then He will deny you in front of His Father in Heaven!!"
Why is it that we feel like we have to do these things to prove our worth? If we're christians, they will know us by our love! You know the old phrase, "actions speak louder than words"? It's very true, and I think it fits in perfectly here. Don't get me wrong, facebook can be a wonderful way to connect with people and witness, but so often, it's improperly used. Instead of personally sharing the love of Christ Jesus with people, we create pages titled "Let's see how many true Christians are on FB! Press 'like' if Jesus is your Savior!" (And yes, that's an actual page on facebook) We get sidetracked with the religion of it all, and in the process, forget about the relationship. Jesus didn't come and die what was considered the worst and most dishonorable death imaginable just so we could read about it; He did it so that we could have a chance at joining Him in heaven, and to show us that he loved us so much, that he would literally die for us before we even knew who He was, much less loved Him.
There's a boy named Jonathan. He lives in Eastern Europe. As of my posting this, he has a matter of days before he turns 16 and recieves his "freedom". This basically means that he will be kicked out of the orphanage he lives in with little more than the clothes on his back. He needs someone to step forth and adopt him before that happens, because he could easily die on the streets.
The thing is, this sort of thing isn't uncommon. This happens all the time there.
I also know a man who has completely uprooted his family to move to Cambodia so that he can help save children out of the sex slave trade there. Why is he doing this? Because God told him to. God put it on his heart to do this, and has given him a love for these children that I personally cannot fully comprehend.
This is God's love. And the thing is, it doesn't take moving across the globe or adopting a kid to show it. It can be something as simple as standing up for the one kid who's made fun of at school, or talking to someone who everyone else avoids. Jesus, the only perfect person to ever walk the earth, spent most of his time with thieves, prostitutes, and drunkards. Why did he do this? "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." (Matthew 9:12)
Jesus showed love to everyone He came in contact with, because He genuinely did love them. I'm not asking you to fall in love with every person on the street, because that's a little crazy. (although there are some movies out there that try to do that....) Just show love to people. It doesn't take that much of an effort. All it takes is to break out of your comfort zone and do what everyone else doesn't want to do.
"But if we are the body,
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body,
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?"
(From what I've been told, there has been a family that has stepped up to adopt Jonathan).
No comments:
Post a Comment