I'm realizing that I have been a Christian for a good amount of my life. Some people might understand that I am a Christian based upon how I live my life, while others only know that I claim to be a Christian based upon what I say. As of lately though, I believe that people should know that I follow and love Christ based upon my actions. I started a non-profit organization, because i wanted people to act kindly towards one another, hoping that through those acts they will see a world the way God intended it to be.
As I look around and see read tweets, other blogs, and facebook status' i see others who don't necessarily believe in God doing much more good in this world than I. So my dilemma is this. What motivates humanity to do good? To treat each other kindly? To love each other? I have my ideas, motives, beliefs...but i want to hear from others before i share all of mine! Hope you will join in!
okay...
ReplyDelete"first of all" why do we put a greater emphasis on actions rather than words? here we have this set of friends who meet up on Thursday nights and that's cool and all. we meet in a basement of someone's house. out of sight, out of mind, right?
hmmm...i struggle with that idea. we look down on this organized religion for meeting in church halls that are pushed way back in wicked long driveways away from all sight. the only way a passerby would know it's a church is by its sign that normally has a cheesy god-awful saying like, "the best position is on your knees." well, i bet plenty of people think that way, but it's not for the church reason. (not to be crass.) but why do we look down on this meeting?
i think that's a very narrow view. cause get this: what if one day one of those involved with the meeting gets out of its walls, goes into the city, finds a homeless person, fills that guy's needs, then walks on in life? isn't that love? isn't that what we're hoping for when we meet up? i mean, how can we just go out and change the world? how can we go out and love if we don't know what love is?
i didn't just swim the moment i dove into water. i didn't even take the dive the first time. i probably very timidly tip-toed into the tide.
i didn't hit a homerun in baseball until i was 16, yet i began the sport when i was 3.
i didn't drive on the highway the first time i get behind the wheel.
i didn't write in script until i first horribly mastered print with my huge lettered words.
what i'm getting at, is that going out and acting is a process. and we view it as an event. you say to me, "well, of course you can just go out and love a person. that's inbuilt in us." really? is it?
the actions we're talking about and aspiring to are very mature actions. am i saying i'm not mature because i stay in and meet with others trying to figure out how to actually change the world? no. because those meetings are a mature action in and of themselves. i'm making the steps toward walking out the door. and when the opportunity is presented to me to change the world, it is then that i will, and it is then that i'll be able to thank everyone in those meetings for teaching me how to change the world.
so i challenge you to think of your perception of affecting the world: is it a process or is it an event?
my question is response to this is, why are there so few "doing" anything? people can write checks and do nothing....others can't write any checks and do it all.
ReplyDeleteI want to change the world. I want to be a doer. I'd rather NOT sit around and talk about how to change the world, but i'd rather go out and do it...make mistakes...and try to do it again. who are we trying to help? not those sitting around 'discussing' how to change the world...
if we are trying to help people in need...who are those people? shane claiborne says, "it's not that we don't like homeless people, we just don't know homeless people."
i think this is the same scenario we are in. We can't just sit around and talk about helping people...we need to be out there finding those who need help.
most people enjoy their comfort zone..that's why it's called "comfort". I want to be made uneasy. I want to be in situations that I'm not use to...i want to be able to feel what people in need feel like....i can't just sit...i must do...
just sayin
and what comes to mind straight away: NIKE "JUST DO IT"
ReplyDeletethis blog is still the same as sitting in a room all discussing what we SHOULD be doing, rather than DOING.
oops. hope i didn't just make this blog pointless and useless. but it's kind of ironic that the first post is about going out and doing when it should be an account of having already gone out and done.
why is it that we get stuck in the same dilemma just in a different form? or forum?
ps: i'm guilty too because my first response wasn't of me helping out the needy, but it was me questioning the sitting around as a possible good thing. not to give more importance to one or the other.
Is one of these people not the beneficiary of someone going out of their way to help another in need?
ReplyDeleteInteresting point of view to have when one has benefited from the charity of others.
"I've been standing on the edge of everything I've never been before" (Switchfoot, "On Fire").
ReplyDeleteThis is our daily complaint.
This is our daily challenge.