Luke 12:48

Tonight, as I pulled into my driveway after working out, I turned my car off and just sat there for a few minutes, listening to the radio and letting my mind wander as I enjoyed a quick break from the hectic pace of today. KSBJ was playing "O Come Emmanuel" and I just felt like God was telling me to sit and be quiet for a minute. So I did.

And as I leaned my head back on the seat and listened to the words about God coming down to us, I had so many thoughts rushing through my head. The conversation with my family about sponsoring kids and micro-loans through Kiva. How commercialized Christmas seems to be this year--all about buying, buying and more buying. How many people in the world don't know God. The book I was reading about the other day called Half The Sky, which talks about how more girls have been killed in the last fifty years, precisely because they were girls, than men were killed in all the wars of the twentieth century, particularly in India and Pakistan. And how what made me want to read the book though is that instead of just making moral appeals, the authors posit that it is impossible for countries to climb out of poverty if only a fraction of women (9% in Pakistan, for example) participate in the labor force. That for these struggling countries, women can be a huge change agent. And then that made me think about how I then saw the writers of the book on Oprah the other day, which I never watch but just happened to have on. And I thought about how a co-worker was telling me a few days ago how her family went and served the meal at the GRB on Thanksgiving and that after doing that, and seeing the need right in our city, they won't be able to not serve again next year, and the next, and the next from here on out. And then I thought about our little Joel, who lives in the Congo, and the war that is raging there and how worried I am about him. And I thought about our two little boys in Paraguay, who are living in orphanages and my heart is heavy for them. And I thought about the Ankole people in Uganda, Africa, and the missionaries over there sharing God with them and about what our role in that outreach needs to be.

All of this flew through my head in about 2 minutes. And then as the song was coming to an end, God brought to my mind the verse Luke 12:48. "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:48

It's a verse that has been one of my favorites since I first read it in high school, and one of the most convicting that I've read, but one I hadn't thought of recently. Like, in a long time. And, as clear as day, I felt like God was saying that reaching out to our hurting world isn't optional. It isn't something we do when we feel like it or because we want to feel good about ourselves. It isn't something we do right now and then not later, or that we put of for later, when we have more money or time or whatever. We have so much. So much. And with what we have been given financially, SO much good can be done. Especially in some other countries where so much oppression and suffering is going on all around us. I felt like he was saying to me that really, it's not ok to know about what is going on in our world and not do anything about it. Because from those who have been given much, much will be asked, and demanded.

And I needed to hear that tonight. Because it's too easy to live in my bubble. To get caught up in sales and what I bought for a good deal. To push statistics I hear about oppression and rape and murder out of my head because it's not in front my face. To buy something for me instead of loaning to others to help them get their business started. To not challenge myself to put others needs, true, in many cases, life and death needs, before my own wants, because sometimes it's hard.

I felt God saying that giving isn't something you do, it's how you live your life. And it's something to be taken seriously. And God, I want to live my life with my eyes wide open to the reality of what is going on in our world with your children, and my heart and mind open to the possibilities of what I can do in response to that--and with the conviction to do something.