Love demands action
Love God, Love people!
That’s the Christian modus operandi, it’s how we roll! For us, love is a verb.
Love not with words or speech but with actions and in truth
1 John 3:18
Loving other people and acting on their behalf is a value that was instilled in me from a very young age. It turned me into a bit of an advocate.
My advocacy memories go as far back as the school playground. Nothing set me off as much as the deep injustice of someone pushing in when it was my friends turn to go on the swing. What would follow was good old playground mayhem! Her and I would rally some eyewitnesses and en masse present ‘our’ case before the teacher. The teacher would then make the perpetrator apologise and my friend would get two turns on the swing to make up for the injustice. And that was it, order was restored on the playground- mission accomplished!
Fast forward to my college years where the playground was a hundred times bigger and I was confronted with injustices far greater and more complex than the ‘swing scandal’. I was a political science major which meant each lecture I attended and each book I read was in some way meant to help me understand how people, past and present, respond to various forms of social injustice. I loved it!
But there was a problem. There were just too many issues, too many things wrong with the world, too much injustice! I felt utterly helpless. I knew very well that injustice demands action, but this was a long way from playground politics. Tackling issues like poverty and oppression, was a tad bit more complex.
Overwhelmed by it all, I did what many millennials do. I became apathetic. My heart grew cold to the suffering around me. It did not happen overnight. It slowly crept in with every choice that I made to ignore the brokenness and injustice around me because it disrupted my comfortable life.It slowly became easier to avoid inconvenience. The inconvenience of interrupting my Sunday stroll to listen to the homeless beggar’s two minute pitch for money to buy food for his family. The inconvenience of having uncomfortable conversations with my colleagues who lived in shacks on the other side of town.
The biggest inconvenience, however, was the thought of confronting the guilt that I secretly buried. The guilt of being privileged by most standards. I owed all my middle class ‘comforts’ to my upbringing. I was by no means brought up with a silver spoon in my mouth- I owed my education and standard of living to a hard working widow who raised 8 biological and adopted children on a civil servant’s salary. A privilege most people on my continent don’t enjoy.
Dealing with the brokenness, suffering and injustice that plagues our world is overwhelming. Having compassion on the hurt and oppressed is messy. It means confronting harsh realities, overcoming our guilt, putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes and getting our hands dirty in order to help them. Honestly, ignoring them is much easier, much more convenient.
The thing is convenience only lasts a lifetime. The harsh reality is that at the end of this life we will each have to give an account for our actions. I struggle to find the bit in the Bible that says we have been put in this world to occupy a space and make it as convenient/comfortable as possible. In fact God requires that we treat everyone as we would treat a king, as we would treat Him.
I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?
The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for ONE of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
Matthew 23:35-40
I recently heard a wise human say that the cure to being overwhelmed by the suffering in our world is hidden in this passage of scripture. In this parable, Jesus says "whatever you did for ONE of the least of these... you did for me" - all we need to do is find our one and love them. That looks different for each of us, it may mean finding one homeless guy to listen to, finding one depressed colleague to cheer up or finding one oppressed people group to speak up for!
Whatever the case- we ought to love
We ought to act!
We ought to do something!
(Yes, I’m trying very hard not to make any lame Nike- just do it! jokes)