Go, Move, Do!

I'm currently reading, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself, by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert.

It is an incredible resource for the mission-minded. I haven't gotten very far in it, but I already want to share a few quotes from the introduction.

"North American Christians are simply not doing enough. We are the richest people ever to walk the face of the earth. Period. Yet, most of us live as though there is nothing terribly wrong in the world. We attend our kids' soccer games, pursue our careers, and take beach vacations while 40 percent of the world's inhabitants struggle just to eat every day. And in our own backyards, the homeless, those residing in ghettos, and a wave of immigrants live in a world outside the economic and social mainstream of North America. We do not necessarily need to feel guilty about our wealth. But we do need to get up every morning with a deep sense that something is terribly wrong with the world and yearn and strive to do something about it. There is simply not enough yearning and striving going on."

"We want to say as loudly and as clearly as we can: GET MOVING! We believe that the coexistence of agonizing poverty and unprecedented wealth - even just within the household of faith - is an affront to the gospel. You see, what is at stake is not just the well-being of poor people - as important as that is - but rather the very authenticity of the church's witness to the transforming power of the kingdom of God."

I feel this kind of stuff deep down. And sometimes it feels like so few others are feeling it deep too. If they did, there would be a lot more MOVING going on. What are you doing for people? Like really DOING?

Sometimes I just feel almost a burden for people. I want to see change happening in this world. Yeah I know it's never going to be all perfect with a bow on top, but there's no excuse for lack of action. Jesus' example on earth was so much an example of ACTION.

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18

I'm not saying you should all jump on a plane overseas because that's where you need to be. I don't know where you need to be. But I hope YOU know. Or if you don't, you're askin' God. Just please please don't let excuses about unsureness, fear, or "busyness" be a reason for inaction. There's just TOO much in this world staring us in the face, to not act. Look for real need. Look for the people being overlooked. Look for the relationships that need reconciliation.

These kinds of thoughts always seem to bring me back to seeing the big picture of life. Remembering Who I'm working for, focusing my day to day things on the full picture of who God is calling me to be, what He is calling me to do, and where He is calling me to go.

Here are just a few more quotes that I love, from some of those giants in the mission field.

"God isn't looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him" 

— Hudson Taylor

"Sympathy is no substitute for action." — David Livingstone

"We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first." 

— Oswald J. Smith

"If ten men are carrying a log - nine of them on the little end and one at the heavy end - and you want to help, which end will you lift on?"  

— William Borden

"You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving." — Amy Carmichael