Saturday we went out to pass out clothing and make friends on the streets. Again, a big thank you to the Goleta Vineyard family for providing the means to allow us to go out and be light in a dark place. Without your donations of clothes and finances we would not be able to continue to provide this assistance. Also, many thanks to Jennifer, Matt & Jamila, Chris, Todd, Michael & Glenn for all your help on the ground loading, unloading, sorting, greeting, praying and making friends with the folks on the streets.
Our next giveaway will be on the 20th of June and we are hoping to provide a meal as well. Anyone is welcome join in and help.
Perhaps some of you noticed that Glenn had been missing for several weeks at church. The enemy had been working hard to keep him away from the church family and live in isolation. Through a couple of divine encounters, including at the giveaway Saturday, he decided to come back to the family. Thank you Jesus! If you see him around he could use some encouraging.
I'll tell you, it is so exciting for me to be having a conversation with someone and then turn around and see the same thing happening all around me. God's people befriending those others would walk right past is a beautiful thing to see.
We had some good conversations Saturday on what it really means to be poor and who really are the poor. It occured to us that it is society tries to dictate to us what it means to be poor, and to the degree that we buy into it it determines our contentment in life.
When God put Adam and Eve in the Garden all they had was God, their skin, each other and creation. ..and it was enough. It was all about the relationships and God took care of everything else. They were content...at least for a time. Then the enemy came in and convinced them that there was more. He got them to believe that God was holding back good things from them and that they would need to take control if they didn't want to miss out. So they took control and lost out on life. From that moment on people have been self-consumed and intent on aquiring "stuff" to make them feel valuable and worth while. Contentment was replaced with greed as man struggled to grow in power and prosperity.
We also realized as we talked that some of the poorest people live in the hills above Santa Barbara in nice homes with all their ducks seemingly lined up in a row. They may have the things that society says makes them worthy, but inside their heart aches with an emptiness that only God can fill. It's a lonliness that no amount of money, toys, education, family or promiscuity can fill. There is a lack of contentment and desire for more.
It is also true that I have met some very content individuals who are considered "poor" by societies definintion. They don't have much, but they have a deep joy the comes from knowing Jesus. This doesn't make life easy by any means, but there is an understanding that one day this life will be over and a new eternal life with Jesus will begin. As one man told me yesterday, "This body is just a rental." Even though they are in poverty by people's definintion, they are rich by God's because they know him. They have the relationship.
All of this offends our way of thinking because society is built on a merit system. If you do well you are rewarded. We carry that into our understanding of scripture and God as well. We find it hard to believe that these people actually know God, because if they did their lives would look different. We believe that if we're doing what we are supposed to be doing and loving God, we should have a good job, nice house, big bank account, peaceful family, etc. In other words God will reward those who diligently seek him. The problem is in our definintion of reward. The prosperity doctrine has subtely infiltrated the ranks. Many of God's rewards won't be realized in this lifetime. Go read Hebrews chapter 11 and see how some of the faithful were seemingly slighted. Or, read 2 Corinthians 6 and see if that lines up with your idea of being rewarded.
For instance, what is one of the first things that goes through your mind when something bad happens? How about, "What have I done wrong Lord?" We immediately think we are being punnished rather than trained and given the chance to transform into his image. That's how Paul could consider it true joy when he was facing various hardships. He never doubted that God was for him and had a plan to work out even the worst of his beatings for His own glory. All those things were making him more like Jesus and less like Paul.
So, now when I see the poor I am less likely to see their condition as God's punishment, but rather as a complex set of circumstances and choices that God wants to take and redeem in order to draw them closer to himself. It is not my job to "fix" anyone, but to be a signpost pointing the One who is the healer, redeemer and giver of life. Jesus can "fix" anyone. It's like when Jesus' disciples asked him about the blind man. Remember the encounter? His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
We need to stop judging and analyzing and just need to see opportunity for the work of God to be displayed in a persons life, or my own for that matter. Sometimes the complexities that have led up to a certain point in life are too huge to be untangled and we just need a re-do. We need to start over and be born again. We need to get back into a relationship with our Creator through Jesus Christ and be content exactly where we are.
If Adam and Eve could be content in the garden with nothing but their skin, their God, each other and creation, I am sure my God can bring contentment to us either in our lack or our abundance.
No comments:
Post a Comment