Every January, my news feed on all forms of social media is
filled with statistics about slavery.
This is largely due to the Passion conference that takes place at the
beginning of January, where many people learn gut-wrenching facts about
modern-day slavery. While
the people vary, the words are pretty much the same:
This is an outraged!
How could we as Christians just
turn a blind eye to this?
Write the president!
Go on strike!
Stop buying this brand, because it
supports slavery!
We can make a difference!
We can make a difference!
We can make a difference!
Do you know what happens to these outcries by February?
They are gone.
Remember Kony 2012? The campaign with the tagline, "Stop at Nothing!" How many people blew up facebook and twitter and went on midnight raids
of their towns to put up posters and stickers because they could not stand the
thought of the horrific injustice that was taking place at the hands of Joseph
Kony? Well, it may not be 2012
anymore, but last I heard, Kony is still out there. There are still mass amounts of suffering and violence
because of him. But when was the
last time that you stayed up all night raising awareness for this issue that
you were so public loud about merely a few months ago? Or, better yet, when was the last time you even prayed for
those affected by this situation?
The answer to that should make you a little bit sad.
Those are just two examples, but the list of issues
Christians become outraged about, only to let die off a few weeks later, could
go on and on.
Slavery.
Abortion.
Homelessness.
Orphans.
Clean water.
We can make a difference! We can make a differnce! We can make a difference!
Except, we don’t.
Why is that?
Why do we do this? Why do
we become so obsessed with something that for a short time, we act and feel as
if we could dedicate our whole lives to a cause?
To be blunt, we do it because it’s the popular thing to
do. It’s easy. When thousands of other people are mad
because of injustice, it’s easy to join them. We just hop on the bandwagon and wow, does our voice sure
seem loud when it is in chorus with all these other voices!
The problem is, very few people actually take action on
these subjects. Instead, they take
to social media and conversation and t shirts and bumper stickers. And do you know what happens next? Of course you do, because you've done it many times.
You quit. You
give up. You become silent. That is, until the next social issue
comes along, and then you pipe right back up again.
Why?
Because it becomes uncomfortable. It is no longer easy.
Your voice doesn’t seem quite as loud anymore, once others are silent.
It is not easy to pray for those in slavery everyday.
It is not easy to have to constantly think about your
actions and your purchases like you said you were going to.
It is not easy to think about the thousands of homeless people
who will go hungry tonight while you are going out to eat for the third time
this week.
It is extremely uncomfortable to bring up abortion when it’s
not popular to, and no one else is talking about it.
It can be awkward to think about how many people die from
not having clean water when you are taking a thirty-minute shower.
So better just stop thinking about it. Better just go back to living life like
you’re used to, and only focus on the things around you. It’s better that way.
Do you know what this makes you look like to the rest of the
world?
Again with the bluntness: It makes you look stupid.
And lazy.
And hypocritical.
Why would anyone want to be a part of a group of people who
are all talk and no action? Let’s
be honest, when we act this way, that is exactly what we are making Christians
look like.
Please stop doing this.
Do not learn about an issue, tell everyone you know that this
outrages you, that God has stirred your heart and that God is going to use you
to change things, and then quit.
If you are going to quit, please leave God out of it.
At the same time, if God stirs your heart about something,
do not quit! By all means, blow up
social media. Write the president
a letter. Tell everyone how you
are going to change the world. But
follow through on your words.
God can use you to change the
world, but only if you choose to not quit.
Do. Not. Quit.
Even though we can sure act like it does, The Bible does not say, “God is pleased with this: raising
awareness for as many possible issues as you can.” Instead, it says this:
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is
this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself
from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27)
Notice those are not words. Those are actions.
Don’t quit.
this is SO good! i had my what's up with kony moment too! why now, why all of a sudden, why not before? and look now, is anyone talking about him? i hate these social things that become issues because it's cool to care about slavery this month and the sex trafficking the next, but it never sticks. how about we just raise awareness for the need of Jesus?
ReplyDelete