If you have been reading my blog for any time now you may have noticed that Haiti and her people have been a common topic for me. I know that it is because there is a supernatural calling on my life to "do something". So I am. Where I can, when I can and what I can. This in not to say that other areas of my life are not important but in this season I feel led to speak out often. This is the thing that I know to do.
The other day I was talking to my daughter Gwenn in Haiti about the canister drive that my friend Dennis and I are doing in our area. She said Mom you know what your doing is "guerrilla aid" I knew at once what she was talking about and it felt good. We don't have committees or officers, we don't have bylaws or rules. We know what needs to get done and we do it. As much as I would like to be on the ground in Haiti I know that my work for Haiti is far more important right here, right now. James 4:17 says: "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."
It is interesting that "Guerrilla Aid" is a humanitarian aid program. Really the concept puts us the Body of Christ to shame. It seems like the (American) church makes doing good things hard. We beat things to death with our committee meetings and our care to do everything the way it has always been done that we sometimes fail to do the good we know to do. We are always looking for approval and support and we sometimes fail to seize the moment to do what is right.
I am beginning to see how we live in this bubble that keeps us clean. And safe. Who ever said that we would be safe? Being a follower of Jesus is not safe. If it is maybe we need to reconsider how we are living. It is not always safe, or comfortable or pretty.In fact, the opposite is often true.
How is it that I can see the work of Jesus in Barton Brooks, a man who does not publicly claim to be a Christ follower? Why is it that I identify so closely with the work of a secular humanitarian? It is because the word of God is somehow written on his heart. He is doing the things that Jesus has commanded us to do. He is caring for the widows and the orphans in their distress. He sees a need and he goes to meet it. This is what the church should look like. We need to get dirty.
I don't want to step on toes unless of course they need it. The Bible tells us about what the last days will be like. Earthquakes, war, famine, signs in the heavens. (Matt 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.) The point of this scripture is not to alarm us but to comfort us and to tell us to be ready. God wants to find us doing the things that He told us to do. And what did He tell us? To care for the widows and the orphans. I think each of us is being called to 'do something'. James 2:14 summed up says "faith without works is dead". Simply to believe is not enough. The evil one, the father of lies, Satan himself is a believer. But he is not a follower of Jesus.
For those of you who remember the 1970s their was a slogan that said "Just do it!" I think it was a Nike ad. Well, I believe today that we could all borrow that slogan. Do the good you know to do. Don't know what you should be doing? The bible tells us to ask for wisdom. That does not mean we have to go off in some room for 40 days with a gathering of counselors to help you decide what 'good' to do. Just a simple "Jesus show me." He will. Then "Just do it."
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:26-27 (in Context) James 1 (Whole Chapter)
Romans 2:12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) 16This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
James 2:18 (New International Version)
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
James 2:14-18 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
