There’s a lot of mud slinging going around right now when it comes to missions. There’s a fringe minority who is speaking out – loudly. And people are listening.
Things are getting ugly. There’s a group of people who are filled with anger and disgust and speaking out against mission work in general. Not just short term missions but missions – period. Saying that white people who travel to places like Africa or Haiti have a “white savior” complex and shouldn’t be there in the first place.
This type of social media controversy scares me.
I think the natural tendency is to shut down – to disengage – to click ‘unfollow.’ To save our emotional energy for something else.
But sometimes Jesus asks us to fight. And I’ll tell you what’s worth fighting for:
The little Haitian boy who lost his life in January because the local hospital doesn’t have a cardiac center.
The little boy in Thailand who plays in the streets of the red light district at night because his mother is a sex worker in one of the bars.
The muslim in Malaysia who is being visited in dreams by a man in white.
The woman in El Salvador whose husband was murdered by a gang.
The orphans sleeping on rat infested mattresses in Haiti.
The family in Guatemala living in a trash dump but hosting a community meeting every week in their tiny house.
The women in Haiti who wants to give away her baby because she can’t find honorable work to support her family.
The pastor in Vietnam being beaten up by ruffians.
The man wandering Swaziland at night haunted by demons.
The child in Haiti who watched her mother die of AIDS.
The list goes on.
These are people with names – who deserve to have a chance of better lives. Who deserve the opportunity to dream.
Jesus specifically asked us to love and help others – specifically those living in distress. I recently heard that justice is “Choosing to make someone else’s problem your own.”
I never wanted to be a savior. I only wanted to serve THE Savior – and to make someone else’s problem my own. The fact that I have access to resources that others don’t drives me to help even more.
In Revelation 3:16, Christ says that if we are lukewarm, he will spit us out of his mouth.
How can we be lukewarm? How can we sit idly by when we know others are suffering?
I cannot and will not. Will you join me?
James 2:14-17:
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
To read more about how God asks us to fight for his people, click on Seth Barnes’ blog here.
