For Christ's love compels us . . .

Ever since I can remember, I've known that there is a huge world beyond the confines of the rolling wheat fields of my family's farm, the brick walls of my small town high school, even the cocoon that the American culture has created for it's children. I've always known this, I tell myself, and yet I live as though I do not.

I live as though my world is the world, as though my minor problems with school and work are the biggest in the world {though I know they aren't}. 

When I'm hungry because I missed a meal because of class or work, I selfishly proclaim that "I'm starving", though I know full well that there are people all around the world {even in my hometown} who truly are malnourished. When my feet hurt because I've barely sat down all day at work, I complain, though I know that there's a seven year old boy somewhere in Africa who had to walk ten miles to the nearest well {and back again} just to have enough water for himself and his two younger siblings to live on today. When I'm exceptionally sleepy because I had to be at work at 5:30 am, I grumble, though I know that there's a woman my age somewhere in the world who is exhausted because she just got back to wherever she calls home after a long night of selling herself to feed her two children and her deceased sister's five. When I come home crying because I had a hard day at work and people yelled at me for things I have no control over, it's hard for me to remember that there's a mother surrounded by her sick children on the other side of town crying because she can find no job. 

Why is it so hard for me {and maybe you} to live what I {or we} proclaim to be true?

Does God call us, as Christ-followers, to become what this world deems radical to help those in need? Or simply live a comfortable life of "good works"? If someone were to ask me this question, I would probably answer with the first choice. So why aren't I living that out? 

There's a quote from Francis Chan that says:

"The God of the universe 

- the Creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor -

 loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. 

And what is our typical response? 

We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss."

And isn't that exactly the way it goes? The Lord Almighty has chosen us {YOU and ME} to be a little lower than the angels! We are His children! He sent His Son to die for us!

And I choose to go to church {sitting in the same seat every week because I wouldn't want to throw anyone off}, sing songs about a God who created all the heavens and earth and how awesome He is {when I'm comfortable and not being thrown any curve-balls}, and maybe go to a missions committee meeting every {third} month.

But that's not what Jesus wants from me.

  He wants me to go to all the nations! He wants me to be His hands and feet to feed and clothe and house the poor! He wants me to love the least of these, the ones this world deems unacceptable! He's chosen ME {US} to do awesome things!

So why don't we? Why aren't we more excited to do those amazing things that He's loved us so much to allow us to be a part of them?

I think it's a very simple explanation {at least, for me - maybe some others}: I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what danger may be lurking in the blatant evil in the red light district in Amsterdam; I'm afraid of the disease running rampant through the Ugandan country-side; I'm afraid {much less now than my first time going} of the looks I get when I go to the courthouse in Columbus to listen to the stories of former-prostitutes. But why? The Lord definitely does not call me to be afraid - He calls me to live with reckless abandon because He will protect me. And so I do, and I trust, and I love {or at least try to love} each person He places in front of me.

"For Christ's love compels us,

because we are convinced that one died for all,

and therefore all died.

And he died for all,

that those who live should no longer live for themselves

but for him who died for them and was raised again."

{2 Corinthians 5:14-15}