Friday, September 30, 2011
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40
I just finished reading a very interesting, good, thought provoking, truthful and challenging book, all at the same time! “The Hole in our Gospel”, by Richard Stearns, starts out by asking the question, “What does God expect of us? What is the Christian faith about? Going to church every Sunday, saying grace before meals, and avoiding the most serious sins – or does God expect more?”
This is a simple question, but it is extremely difficult to answer! I grew up in a Christian home, attending church on a regular basis, I went to Sunday school and youth group, I volunteered my time teaching the younger classes, I tried to avoid the most serious sins…but it wasn’t until college that I truly understood what it meant to be a Christian. As it should be, my relationship with Christ is still forming, and developing and challenging me to a whole new level, daily.
In this book, Sterns discusses an experiment in which a handful of seminary students went through all sixty-six books of the Bible and underlined every passage and verse that dealt with poverty, wealth, justice, and oppression. Then one of the student’s took a pair of scissors and physically cut every one of those verses out of the Bible. The result of this experiment was a volume in tatters that barely held together. This Bible was literally full of holes. Sterns challenge in this book is for each of us look beyond the walls of our churches and work together in reclaiming the world for Christ’s kingdom. He asks the questions “What if we actually demonstrated God’s love for the world instead of just talking about it? What if we embraced the whole gospel of loving God AND loving our neighbors?”
I am not trying to write a book review. I simply want to discuss some points that really got me thinking and are challenging me to ask the question for myself am I really doing all that the Lord expects from me? Or is there more that I could, or should be doing?
As I shared, it wasn’t until college that my relationship with Christ really began to be formed and shaped. I went on my first mission’s trip to Nicaragua my junior year of college, and the very first night, I remember be taken so far out of my comfort zone that within the first few hours of being there, I prayed to the Lord, that as long as he got me through my 10 days here, I promised I would NEVER do anything like this again! How could I have known that was just the beginning? In my 10 days, I saw things I could have never imagined. There were families living in the dump, breathing, smelling and being covered in the smoke from the burning piles of trash everyday. There were young families with babies and small children. The kids went to school on the dump…they were eating and finding what they could from the piles of garbage! My entire view of my “perfect” world was shattered, in a course of just a couple of days! How could I go back to my comfortable life after seeing and knowing that this is the way people lived?
After that trip, I returned to Nicaragua a second time, and then found myself in other missions’ related jobs and trips over the course of the next 6 years. What happens when you pray a prayer like “I will NEVER…?” The first night, on my first ever missions trip, my heart was broken! Ever since that first prayer, I found myself being challenged to do all that I can with to help the less fortunate. Ever since that first prayer, I felt the Lord beginning to call me to something more than my “comfortable” life.
While of course we do not fully speak a language enough to communicate, we have to be sure we are sharing the love of Christ with everyone we meet, no matter how we do it. Ultimately our call is to spread the gospel message and Christ’s love to everyone. Am I doing that, when I go to a small village, knowing that since I don’t speak the language, it’s easy to just stand to the side and watch? Am I doing that when I back away from holding the hands of the little kids because they might be filled with “germs”? Am I doing that, when my attention is on how soon can I leave this place and be back to my “comfortable” house? As our ministry in Lubumbashi continues, my prayer moving forward, is exactly this…”Lord please let my heart break for the things that break your heart.” I hope that I can open my heart completely to every person that I meet, and show Christ’s love, even if it’s holding the hands of the kids, or sitting with the ladies and talking to them, using my few words that I know…or even if its being completely involved in my surroundings, no matter how long that visit will last.
My heart is not always broken, and I do not always pray how the Lord will use my presence in this moment, to help those around me. But that is now a challenge I must be regularly finding myself doing. Prayer is a powerful resource, and if I am not praying regularly, I am not going to be able to face my challenge with strength and genuine love for those around me!
If you haven’t read this book, I hope you will consider it. There is much more to the book than what I have written about, but I believe you will find yourself being challenged in a “hole” new way!