A WORLD GONE MAD

I am leaving for Rwanda soon. Two months I will be gone in a new culture amongst a whole other people I am quite unfamiliar with though experienced from afar. I am as ready as you can be. I am blessed to experience what I will be experiencing, though even that as of this moment is uncertain. Fearful, not really, more so simply anxious to jump in.

Africa. What comes to mind. Well for me I think of one word, huge. Huge for more than the obvious fact that it is the largets continent in the world. I think of the huge and quite overwhelming humanitarian crises affecting the large majority of the continent. I think of the huge diseases killing off entire villages and regions, malaria and HIV/AIDS only to name two. I think of the huge numbers of people who go days on end without a meal to fill their stomachs. I think of the huge numbers of those who are daily affected by corrupt leadership. I think of the huge numbers of those who have not been afforded a basic education. And then I think what in the world can I ever do to make even a dent in any one of these huge crises.

I would not say I am realist, I fall much more in favor of being an optimist. Yet I face moments where it is hard to look in the face of these giants slaying millions upon millions without saying we don't stand a chance. However, these are only moments. God has entrusted me with such a great responsibility as he has with all who are playing an active role in taking on these giants affecting humanity, to not back down. Backing down would be to promote injustice. I have been called as has the church of Jesus Christ to act upon the heart of God, to love. To forsake, the widow, the orphan, the poor, the destitute and the sick both spiritually and physically would be to forsake the heart of God.

In Proverbs 31 King Lemuel writes, reminding himself of what he was taught as a child.

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy."

Indeed Lemuel was a king in his day. He was a minister of God, as are all of those who have been entrusted in government positions, to administer justice. It would be easy to write this off and say well I am not a king or a judge. Indeed. Yet, are we not all kings in a certain right? At creation God entrusted humanity with the responsbility of ruling over all creation (Genesis 1). I would take this to include you and me not matter what position the world may categorizes you in. All sons and daughters of God are ministers, little kings in service to our King. All sons and daughters of God follower of Christ or not. For he uses even the most wicked to carry out his purposes in the world.

Yet more so, as followers of Christ, we have been entrusted to uphold His decrees, His commands, and His heart in a world horribly gone wrong. In a world in whom all have been infected by a global killer present from the first age to the present, sin. Part of our responsibility as followers of Christ is to be those defenders for the destitute, the poor, and the needy. We are to be a voice. Yet more than a voice, we are to be ministers driven by love. Love is the root from which all action must grow. Why do I choose to act? Why do I choose to go against impossible odds and take on these global giants? Because I am a minister of God who has been called to love.

Thus, Africa what can I do?

I can go.

I can act.

I can love.

And hopefully in those moments God gives me there I can make an impact on one community or even just one person whom God will raise up to embrace God's destiny for their lives. Change occurs when people rise up and embrace what God destined them to be. It is destiny not earned but destiny given. When people discover what their real purpose in life is, their unique destiny, the world will be shaken. This may take a lifetime for some. But in its discovery, life, true aliveness will be experienced. Our unique purposes and destinies in life each serve a higher cause and purpose. They fit together into a giant mosaic to create one beautiful picture, one beautiful outcome.

Do not sit idol in this world gone mad. Embrace your destiny and become. Be a minister of action driven by love.