When I told people I was going to Japan on my World Race I was given quizzical looks and a many “Why Japan?”
After living in South America for 4 months and then arriving in Japan I too wondered Why Japan? Is this the least of these that I am meant to go and serve? They seem to have it together better than America… And in many ways, they do!
Japan like America is a first world country, one of the wealthiest in the world, but Japan is very poor spiritually.
Religiously, it is estimated that between 84-96 percent of the Japanese population subscribe to Buddhism or Shinto, or both. Another study suggests that even though many subscribe to Buddhist or Shinto temples, only 30 percent of the population truly consider themselves believers in any religion. Agnostic, apathetic, Buddhist or Shinto… The Japanese do not know Jesus.
It took me only a week to see what this looks like firsthand. More so than Americans, the Japanese are very driven. The men work many hours a week, coming home very late in the evenings or in many cases, living hours away in a bigger city to work and provide for their family, coming home only weekends or once a month. The women’s sole purpose is to raise the children and tend to all things domestic.
The men are striving for their worth and value in making a lot of money, providing a comfortable life for their family, but working their lives away. The women are so lonely, providing every need for their children (other than monetarily) while their husbands are away.
We were paired in homes of mothers and their children in the burbs of Osaka. Courtney and I lived with a mother and her three kids in Ashiya for the month, helping her around the house and with the kids any way we could. Many of the mothers, our “mom” included, mentioned not wanting our group to leave, because they would be so lonely again. We knew these were not empty words, but truly from their lonely hearts. They also thanked us for coming in general, because their husbands came home more often since there were visitors, to take us to nice dinners and sightseeing temples and such.
I could see the exhaustion, sadness and loneliness in the women’s eyes. I could see the exhaustion from striving in the men, stressed from the long hours and working their days away.
The Japanese people are the most giving, servant hearted people I have ever met. They cared for and loved us so well, but truly this is a part of their culture and part of their worth. Working hard, excelling in school and career, making a lot of money, buying many things, treating themselves (and us) to nice dinners and expensive outings.
In Jesus we are called to rest. We find our worth not in doing, but in being… In being the beloved son or daughter of the most high God. We have true freedom, peace and security in knowing we were bought for the price of a perfect life (Jesus). We were loved at our worst and darkest. We have received an everlasting and unconditional love.
We don’t have to strive in any way to prove our worth or value to one another, to society, to anyone or anything. Now, I’m not speaking of laziness… God says a great deal of laziness in the Bible and it is not respectable at all. But God calls us to work not to find our value or worth. Those are found in Him alone.
I have found freedom in Him. I know longer need to look at my parents, friends, bosses, society, ANYONE for approval, value or worth… I have that in Jesus. I can be the Whitney He made me to be without anxiety or worry if I am enough or not enough for a person, place or thing. I already know I am enough in Christ.
This is what I pray for the Japanese, American, and any other culture in the world who believes their worth is tied to what they do instead of who they are. I pray that God will break through the religious barriers of ancestry, religious ties and apathy that are strongholds to the Japanese people, keeping them from believing in Jesus. I pray that God will soften the hearts of His people worldwide that are jaded from what society says makes us a man or woman, of what makes us successful, worthy and of value.
It is not how much money we have in the bank or how much our house or car cost. I know our families and society in whole would benefit from fathers being home instead of working all hours of the day and night… How their children and wive’s lives would be so much different. I truly believe with all my heart this starts with and is only through the heart knowledge of Jesus. The peace of knowing Him. The freedom found in Him alone.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations. (Isaiah 61:1-4, 7, 10-11 ESV)
