Our Stories
Be Careful What You Ask
By Kim Hjelm | posted 02/04/2010
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed..." (Luke 4:18)
"Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it."
"Well, why don’t you ask Him?"
"Because I’m afraid He would ask me the same question." ~Anonymous
We know too much.
We cannot keep our heads in the sand any longer.
Our insulating bubble has been burst and there is no turning back.
When we became followers of Jesus, we committed our life to Him. What does this mean? What is expected of us? Richard Stearns (President, World Vision U.S.) answers that question this way:
And so the question, "What does God expect of me?" is a very profound one - not just for me, but for everyone who claims to follow Christ. Jesus had a lot to say about it. Yes, He did give us deep insights into the character of God and our relationship with Him as well, but He also spoke at length about God’s expectations, our values, and how we are to live in the world. So how are we to live? What kind of relationship are we to have with a holy God? What is God asking for, really, from you and me? Much more than church attendance. Much more than prayer, too. More than belief, and even more than self-denial. God asks us for everything. He requires a total life commitment from those who would be His followers. In fact, Christ calls us to be His partners in changing our world, just as He called the Twelve to change their world two thousand years ago. (Pg. 1; The Hole in Our Gospel)
To put it another way:
Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department."
Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works? James 2:14-24 (The Message)
So the question does come back to us. God is asking us why we are allowing poverty, suffering and injustice to run rampant around us. Being a follower of Christ means "much more than having a personal and transforming relationship with God. It also entails a public and transforming relationship with the world." (pg. 2)
Take a deep breath...relax. This can get overwhelming and cause us to freeze or even retreat back into our shells of safety. That is exactly what Satan wants. He wants us to see the problems as too big and too hard for us to tackle. And actually, they are! We cannot do it...we have to join God as He is doing it! Last Sunday, Brian Cress from International Justice Mission used the narrative of the feeding of the 5000 (John 6) to illustrate that we all have something we can bring to God so He can do the miraculous. The boy gave his lunch. It was a simple lunch. Some hard bread and a few dried fish. It doesn’t seem like much. But it was enough, because Jesus did the rest.
We now know too much. Awareness is the first step, action is the second. We need to give God our simple sack-lunch selves with a willingness to join Him however, whenever and wherever He calls us.
Jesus expects a great deal of those who follow Him. We are to be His hands and feet on this troubled planet. In His own words, He was sent to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed (Luke 4:18). We are sent to do the same.
Kim can be reached via email.
