The 30 day quiz doesnt ask for the most impactful song, well here it is. I know ive posted it a few times, but I find it appropriate now. I prefer the version by the vine band but doesnt matter here, its the same message.
We must go
Live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
We must go
Stepping forward
Keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We must go
Initially I thought to myself, why is it that a song like this no one seems to know? And after mulling over it for awhile, I came to a conclusion. It might perhaps be so because this is a dangerous song indeed. It threatens your comfortable life and challenges you to truly live.
Keep us from just singing. This line creates a mental picture of us, gathering in the crowd, lifting up our hands in worship, singing.
'We are a chosen generation, rise up holy nation, God we live for you.'
'Jesus I believe in You and I will go, to the ends of the earth, to the ends of the earth.'
'My whole life is yours, I give it all, surrendered to your name, and forever I will pray, have your way, have your way.'
And we sing, and we jump, and we clap, our hands lifted high, we declare our lives are given to Him. We do that all the time don't we?
Then why aren't we moving out? Why do we often sing about it, and never seem to internalise the call that is found in those songs?
After the resurrection, what were the two of the things that were recorded in the Bible of which Jesus had spoken to his disciples?
'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations'.
'And you will be my witnessess, in Jerusalem, in all of Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth'.
What is then, the heart of God?
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. What do we do about that? Do we hope that more harvesters will come in? Or do we go?
I posted Josh Wilson's I refuse song story a few days back. Heres a quote from him.
'I realised after awhile that I was using my own prayers as a defence against having to do anything myself. I have forgotten that as a follow of Christ, I am called to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and I had forgotten that God might want to use my hands and my feet and my own resources to help those in need and to show God's glory and His love...I can't do everything, but I refuse to do nothing.'
Even as we criticize some churches for their false teachings such as the prosperity gospel, are we not preaching a false gospel of our own when we fail to speak of the absolute surrender that is necessary in our lives and the commitment thus to go out there and make a difference. I don't suppose that each and every single one of us are to be foreign missionaries or some sort, but God has called each and every single one of us to work in a mission field, regardless of whether this may be local or otherwise.
Will we go?
Live to feed the hungry, be it physical or spiritual hunger?
Stand beside the broken, to offer our sacrifical love?
If we chose Christ, we don't have a choice in this. To reject a segment of what God calls us to do rejects God. We must go.
Step forward, our choice, our actions, we don't wait for others. Keep us from just singing, move us into action. We must go.
Now that I have seen
I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
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Something I was thinking about.
Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you. I always found this a challenging command, but not that tough really (at least in our country where persecution cant get that intense). It really doesn't seem that difficult for me to be nice towards those who insult me and treat me like dirt. For me, I always never really cared about what these people say, its not important. I just ignore what they say and continue to treat them as people. Praying for them maybe abit tougher because sometimes you can't even wait for them to be gone from your life, but internalising the message of love in the gospel, it can be done.
Whats difficult for me I tell you, is to love my close ones, pray for those who hurt and disappoint me.
Its easy to love your enemies. They don't matter. But the ones we hold dear to our hearts, when they hurt us, it slices through our bones. A lie told by a friend is more devastating that a million by an enemy.
To those dear to us we have expectations. Sometimes, they dont even intentionally hurt us, but because of our preconceived notions of how they should be like, we feel hurt when they fail to meet up to our expectations.
And so, sometimes really I find it harder to love someone that means alot to me than someone whom I don't know well.
When those more distant from us falter, we encourage them, tell them they can do it. When those dear to us falter, we think to ourselves 'you of all people should have known better'.
To those that we entrust the privilege of knowing us personally, we sometimes expect perfection from them, but no man is perfect.
When we enter into a deeply personal relationship with someone else, we become vulnerable before them. The walls erected around our hearts that keep the barrage of the world out do not seal these out. And near our hearts, they can heal it, strengthen it, but they can also damage it like no other can.
Nonetheless, we must learn to love them. Despite their flaws, their failures. It may not be easy sometimes when things go wrong, but if our enemies are deserving of our love, should not those close to us be deserving of so much more?
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