Sunday, January 16, 2011

Go

Go.

The word is a command in scripture. But where do we go to? There may not be a deep need around us (at least, one we cannot see). There is no poverty, nor afflicted ones that immediately affect us.

What are the needs in this world? More importantly, what is on God’s heart?
I simply want to give you some statistics. We so often live in a bubble of perfect America, but right down the street, the enemy is destroying lives, and we are unable to see it. May God open our eyes and guide us where He sees fit.

-Each year, an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the U.S. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country each year is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry.

-Approximately 495 underage girls are commercially sexually exploited per month in Georgia

-There are 1.37 million abortions every year in America. That equals approximately 3,700 per day.

Worldwide, the numbers for orphans, trafficking, drug trade, and many other needs are incredible. It is staggering and incomprehensible to our suburban minds, most of the time.

If there is one thing I don’t want to do, however, it is stir up human compassion.
Compassion is not the answer for these needs. Humanitarianism is not the answer.
What these people need is the gospel. They need Jesus. If we desire to be effective Christians in this world, we must be a people primarily upon our knees, with our faces bowed before God, submitting to His will, and asking Him, “What would You have me do? How do You want me to spend my life?”

There is a story that came out of the Holocaust in Germany. The churches were allowed to remain, so long as they did not preach out against Hitler or the Reich or anything the government was doing. One such church sat beside a set of railroad tracks, and one Sunday, they heard cries, pleas for help. A train was passing by – it was more like a cattle car – filled with Jews being taken to concentration camps. The church came together and came up with a solution to this problem.

The next Sunday, when the train rolled by, the music minister turned up the volume on the pipe organ and cried out, “Sing! Sing louder! Sing!” And thus, the noise was drowned out.

We have committed such a crime in our own lives. Let us not point the finger at those Christians then, but rather, let us examine ourselves and see how we have neglected the anguish of God’s heart. Let us come before the Lord, and say, “What would you have us do?”

Let God burden you with His anguish.

Here are some videos to meditate upon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCT9V9nHcAk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb3S-tLaKZo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41GPCKc1rmM&feature=channel