Here in Guatemala and many places around the world, including the States, many young boys, girls and family members are taught that they will never amount to anything. Many young children are told by their parents that they can not attend school, and with much of their free time they wander the streets of Guatemala unattended. They work 6 to 7 days a week, looking for customers to buy candy or other items or to let them shine their shoes.
Many of these kids are denied so much love by their own fathers and families and told that they can’t so many times, that they truly believe it. They grow up their entire lives shining people’s shoes and selling knick knacks to try to keep themselves off the streets. When they get older they pass this way of life onto their children, forming a sort of unspoken cast that can seem impossible to break, unless someone steps in and tells them they can.
Thinking about this shoe shining society that many of us live in or encounter throughout our lives has helped me realize that these boys and girls we see on the streets are not the only ones in this cast, but we are also.
We live in a world where we spend most of our time getting to the top of the cast. Thinking this will bring us freedom, we walk across others and use them many times to get there. We tell ourselves that we are special or better than someone else. We feel a sort of right to have our shoes shined or be the ones receiving the services, when in reality, Jesus teaches us the exact opposite.
God made us worth more than we know. Seeing people like movie stars, models, businessmen, actors and many many more, we start to put ourselves in a cast that the world has made for us. We put ourselves on a lower level because that is where we feel we belong based on the worlds standards. In all reality, God never had levels of worth because we were all made the same way and are all equal in His eyes.
Thinking about Jesus and the famous saying “W.W.J.D,” I often try to really imagine “what would Jesus do?”
One day in particular, while walking around the central square in Antigua, I remember seeing one of these boys going around to different people, tapping them, and asking if they would pay him for a shoe shine. Seeing one fairly wealthy looking man take him up on that offer, the man sat down on the park bench and the boy started to shine away.
Watching this I got an image in my head of Jesus being the man on the bench. Only this time Jesus had no sign of wealth on him. In fact, He was wearing more tattered and worn out clothing than the shoe shining boy was, and He didn’t even have any shoes to shine. In my image, Jesus reached down, scooped the boy up, and sat him on the bench. He traded spots with him and began to shine his shoes instead. After He was finished, Jesus sat next to the boy who had always been told he wouldn’t amount to anything and began to tell him of His future plans and dreams that He has for the boy. Jesus was calling him just like His disciples and telling him that He had so much for him; so much that the boy could have never imagined.
After talking with Jesus, the boy left behind his shoe shining polish and wooden stool and followed Jesus.
Thinking about this, I got an even bigger image of the whole world and every single one of us in it. I got the image of all of the plans Jesus has for us and how we are all stuck in our own type of casts. All we have to do is give everything up and follow him.
Sounds simple right? Haha far from it. This should be so simple, but yet it is not. It is so easy to see our own goals and dreams. They are off in the distance and look so great, but what will we do to achieve them?
Our own goals seem so great, when in reality, God’s are so much better. Living out a life for God is not easy. In fact it is the exact opposite.
Start following God and see what will happen. Friends will leave you, people will say you are goofy and make fun of you, satan will try to attack you more and make your journey with God seem impossible, you will struggle here on Earth, you may never be wealthy, your own dreams may never happen, and you could even be killed for your faith.
That being said, you may never find your reward here on Earth. When God says He has so much more for you, He truly means it. It can be hard to see that reward and the evil one can cloud our vision, but the true reward is heaven.
Imagine how beautiful it will be. Imagine the day when you enter heaven, run to Jesus’ arms, He scoops you up, and He says “We did it and all your burdens are gone.” Imagine seeing all of the people in heaven that you were a part of helping to get there or helped you to get there. Imagine how beautiful that will be.
This is just as easy for me to write as it is for you to read because writing this and saying these things are truly easy, but acting on them is the hard part. Like Francis of Asisi once said, “Change the world. Use words when necessary.” Act more than you speak.
It is not easy to give up our comforts and trust that we will find them even greater in God, but we will.
I am mainly writing this blog to say that I know God has so much for you and me. Break the chains that the evil one has put you in and leave the place that you have been stuck in. Get away from your own cast the world has called you to and join Jesus.
Realize that Jesus uses the broken to build His kingdom. He uses our shattered pieces to let His light shine through the broken cracks in our lives. He called the most plain and ordinary of people to change the world. Understand that you truly are special and no one is you. No one has your same story. No one can minister like you because you are special and different than any one who has ever lived and will ever live on this earth. Your differences are what set you apart and make you.
Ignore everything you have ever been told in your life and chase after Jesus because He has never told you and will never tell you, “You can’t.”
That is not in His vocabulary and never will be.
God has a special calling for each and every one of us. It is completely different than the person next to you. Realize that you are different, and that is beautiful. God loves you so much, and I can only pray that you and I will truly understand that and understand that we are more and we are important. We are different and we can break this shoe shining society we live in today. Have faith like a mustard seed and watch God work through you to multiply and bear fruit. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
The. Best. Is. Yet. To. Come.
