I am just one person
Today I had a bit of a rough day. One of those necessary days, but also a hard day.
Today I had a conversation with someone that was very sobering. We were talking about some major issues in our world – child labour, sex slavery, world hunger, abortion etc. and I started to weep when thinking about how all of this is going on in the world, how most people do know about it and refuse to do anything. I lump myself in that group. I have definitely partnered with apathy before. I was just repenting and it made me weep more.
Even if there were big signs of children in sweatshops posted up in front of Nike, people would just ignore it and walk in. We know that those sad commercials with belly-swollen babies in third world countries are quickly turned off and back to a much easier channel to cope with. These big signs at ProLIFE demonstrations are jarring and hard to look at but people disassociate what they are there for, they dismiss it.
When talking to my friend I realized that it’s much harder, in this generation, to “preach to the masses”. I don’t even mean anything Christian, per se. Environmentalists, Human rights activisits, whoever. What would it take for the mainstream to listen to a “radical” voice? There are these really comfortable labels that are put on people with ideas that threaten this numbing normalcy.
I was weeping because I realized that most of what I do is probably labeled “mercy” as oppose to “justice”. Don't get me wrong, mercy is good...it's great. It's a fantastic thing that there are volunteers at rape relief, and that there are people rescuing children from being sold into slavery. That's all amazing. But who's going to stop people from raping others? How is the demand ever going to be lowered in the sex trade? If we offer post-abortion counselling, yet do nothing to prevent the genocide....
Ahhh... so much. I just weep. So much hurting in this world. So much. And I guess I realized that there's not much that I can do as an individual. What will it take to seriously get people to wake up and make a difference? To be a revolution? I am just one person. I believe that God is good. I believe that God is calling His children to rise up. I don't really have a wrapping statement to finish this off. I still feel a bit unresolved, but am okay with that for now.
posted by KiR @ 17:26
2 Comments:
This is all good stuff Kir.
But remember, actually, that you are not all alone in this. And I am not just talking about God.
When Elijah ran into the desert after Mt. Carmel he complained that he was all alone, the only one left who was doing God's will, and thus felt afraid and overwhelmed.
But he wasn't alone. God reminded him that he had reserved a whole load of other God-fearing prophets as well as Elijah. And if God had just defeated all the prophets of Baal through one man, Elijah, imagine what he could do through thousands?
Yes, one voice crying in the wilderness might be easy to ignore. But we have more than just one voice. I don't think the issue is whether we have the ability to make a difference, to make a noise, to change the world. The question is, why aren't we? What is stopping us from joining together?
My suggestion is a lack of holiness (personal, corporate, social). We are afraid to act because we are enatngled in our own sins, our own complicity for the ills of the world. Let's get rid of the log and go hunting for specks!
Grace,
Aaron
I believe it was george orwell (spelling?) who said in the futrure we would be oppressed by our government/societ/everything by a false or maybe not false sense of comfort. and it was some one else im not sure who, who said we would be oppresed by a sense of fear. I think its a little bit of both, and that the only way people can get out from under covers, is to realize that nothing on this earth can satisfy them. I dont know if that even ties in, I just kind of want to show my support and say dont get discouraged, its not really all the peoples fauth, they are just following the wrong sign, I will be praying for you, and the world.
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