Changing From The Inside Out

This is a long one. Grab a cup of tea and pull up a chair. I hope you find it worthy of 10 minutes of your time.

God is teaching me so many lessons. I feel as though a lens has been lifted from my eyes and I am one small step closer to understanding how God sees His world. This process has been humbling, challenging, embarrassing, and completely transforming. I have felt so unworthy to put in words what has been etched into my heart. The truth is … I am a selfish, proud, judgmental, and unworthy sinner. Really, I am the least ‘qualified’ person to be sharing. Hence, the long delay in writing on this blog. But, enough is enough! My motive is selfish. So, with humility, I will do my best to share what is in my heart.

The privileges I have been blessed with in this country have solidified my corrupt human nature. (Please don’t get me wrong, I am truly thankful to have been born in this beautiful country.) But, at the end of the day, I have chosen to insulate myself with the comforts, prestige, freedoms, and lies of this country. It is a tremendous blessing to live in a place where a one-stop shopping experience is three blocks from home (aka: Fred Meyer), I have four faucets with clean water in my home, I have access to health care, I have a pantry and refrigerator stocked with food, and I have money in the bank. This is also a curse, because it is nearly impossible to not take food, water, heath care, and money for granted.

Over the past few weeks I have made a proactive decision to educate myself on what is happening in the world. We have all heard the statistics before, right? I could fill the pages with horror stories, gut-retching statistics, and real life struggles that are happening the very same moment I type this blog from the comforts of my warm, safe, and clean home. According to my best guess, you have been reading this blog entry for 45 seconds. Sadly, as you have been reading 12 precious children have died from a preventable illness. It is incomprehensible!!! But, even the most appalling stories of the brokenness in our world have not penetrated through the ‘world of comfort’ that I have built around myself. Quite frankly, I feel deeply when I hear the horrors in our world, but by the next day I am focused on something else.

So where does this leave me? …. Slowly, as I grow in confidence in Jesus Christ … I am being changed from the inside out. Here are just a few of the simple things that have left an impression on me over the last two weeks.

1. Taking the “Rice and Bean” challenge. In other words, eating what half the world eats everyday (if they are lucky). Only rice, beans and water for 1, 3, or 5 days. This was really hard for me.

2. Real Life exhibit. Just check it out, you won’t be disappointed. www.medicalteams.org/sf/real_life_exhibit

3. Studding the book of James. Listen to the sermons on: www.willamettewomen.com

4. Attending an India Partners banquet and listening to the testimonies of human trafficking. Check it out: www.indiapartners.org

5. The series Mission Hope that our church has been teaching on and God’s heart for His poor and oppressed children. www.willamettechurch.com

6. Recognizing that adopting a child from Ethiopia is not enough. In fact, it is only the beginning.

7. Writing out a Max Luccado prayer on a note card and placing it beside this computer. The prayer is typed on the bottom of this blog entry.

8. Above all else, the most important thing is discovering a restored sense of HOPE. I am only one person, but I can make a difference. What I choose to do or not do will make a difference. All the strength I need can be found in Christ. My change of heart begins and ends with Him.

My goal is not to organize this blog into a check-off list. That defeats the point. I just want to share with you a few specific ways that God is changing me during this adoption process and providing a new hope that the world cannot offer. In a time of confusion, frustration, and confession, a wise women gave me this link to a short passage from Max Luccado in his book Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference. It left an impression on me and I would encourage you to spend some time reading it too.

When We Love Them,
We Love Him
by Max Lucado

Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.
—Matthew 25:40 (MSG)

There are many reasons to help people in need.
“Benevolence is good for the world.”
“We all float on the same ocean. When the tide rises, it benefits everyone.”
“To deliver someone from poverty is to unleash that person’s potential as a researcher, educator, or doctor.”
“As we reduce poverty and disease, we reduce war and atrocities. Healthy, happy people don’t hurt each other.”

Compassion has a dozen advocates.

But for the Christian, none is higher than this: when we love those in need, we are loving Jesus. It is a mystery beyond science, a truth beyond statistics. But it is a message that Jesus made crystal clear: when we love them, we love him. This is the theme of his final sermon. The message he saved until last. He must want this point imprinted on our conscience. He depicted the final judgment scene. The last day, the great Day of Judgment. On that day Jesus will issue an irresistible command. All will come. From sunken ships and forgotten cemeteries, they will come. From royal tombs and grassy battlefields, they will come. From Abel, the first to die, to the person being buried at the moment Jesus calls, every human in history will be present.

All the angels will be present. The whole heavenly universe will witness the event. A staggering denouement. Jesus at some point will “separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats” (Matt. 25:32). Shepherds do this. They walk among the flock and, one by one, with the use of a staff direct goats in one direction and sheep in the other. Graphic, this thought of the Good Shepherd stepping through the flock of humanity. You. Me. Our parents and kids. “Max, go this way.” “Ronaldo, over there.” “Maria, this side.”

How can one envision this moment without the sudden appearance of this urgent question: What determines his choice? How does Jesus separate the people? Jesus gives the answer. Those on the right, the sheep, will be those who fed him when he was hungry, brought him water when he was thirsty, gave him lodging when he was lonely, clothing when he was naked, and comfort when he was sick or imprisoned. The sign of the saved is their concern for those in need. Compassion does not save them—or us. Salvation is the work of Christ. Compassion is the consequence of salvation. The sheep will react with a sincere question: when? When did we feed, visit, clothe, or comfort you (vv. 34–39)?

Jesus will recount, one by one, all the acts of kindness. Every deed done to improve the lot of another person. Even the small ones. In fact, they all seem small. Giving water. Offering food. Sharing clothing. The works of mercy are simple deeds. And yet, in these simple deeds we serve Jesus. Astounding this truth: we serve Christ by serving needy people.

Some of them live in your neighborhood; others live in jungles you can’t find and have names you can’t pronounce. Some of them play in cardboard slums or sell sex on a busy street. Some of them walk three hours for water or wait all day for a shot of penicillin. Some of them brought their woes on themselves, and others inherited the mess from their parents.

None of us can help everyone. But all of us can help someone. And when we help them, we serve Jesus. Who would want to miss a chance to do that? Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.”
(Matthew 25:34–36 NLT)

O Lord, where did I see you yesterday . . . and didn’t recognize you? Where will I encounter you today . . . and fail to identify you properly? O my Father, give me eyes to see, a heart to respond, and hands and feet to serve you wherever you encounter me! Transform me, Lord, by your Spirit into a servant of Christ, who delights to meet the needs of those around me. Make me a billboard of your grace, a living advertisement for the riches of your compassion. I long to hear you say to me one day, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” And I pray that today I would be that faithful servant who does well at doing good. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

From Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2010) Max Lucado