Disclaimer:
Everything I see so easily in others is first extremely true in myself.

I sat in on a class of students last night learning about missions. I was helping with some logistics. At the end there was discussion and prayer requests and I was amazed by what I heard. This thing called the work of God, mentioned in I Corinthians "We beg you! Be reconciled to God through Christ." is huge. God wills that this be our work on earth - calling others to be reconciled, caring for those who cannot care for themselves. We lost the intimacy in the garden when we joined the rebel forces, became His enemy and thus had to be removed from His presence. He wills that we be returned into His presence - reconciled.

Students spoke about fear, courage, direction, not having any, having some, just doing it despite the fear, plowing forward, people's perception of them. One word came to my mind - burden. This huge work of God is exciting - but they missed the fact that it's HIS work - and have taken it upon themselves as their burden. But they do not bear the responsibility of fulfilling God's will on this earth. They can not hold up under that burden. It is His burden not ours. Our's is the joy to look upon His face and everything else follows.

Our generation is distracted by themselves. Even when it comes to missions. They are filled with should's and could's and all the while the kingdom of God grows dim in light of what they wish to be or think they should be or accomplish or.... it's futile. It is about Jesus. ALL about Jesus. They do not know Him. They do not read their Bible or pray, the two primary ways of fostering intimacy with Him. They try to foster intimacy through non-direct safer ways like Christian self-help books, chapel speakers, retreats, even worship songs: third party venues. If they knew Him and His goodness, they would not worry about if they had fear inside or not; or if they had direction or not; or if a person responded to their presentation of the gospel or not; or if they had enough faith or trust or not. By knowing in their hearts how truly good He is - they would burst forth naturally with the desire to love others in action and cry all the while - be reconciled to God!!(for how sweet, how wonderful to be with Him as we were made to be) and leave the rest in His hands.

Stirring the pot a little more :-)

According to the December 18, 2006 issue of Business Week [a secular business magazine] here is a list of some of the top paid Executives for companies who did not have very good returns:

Terry S. Semel of Yahoo! $53.3 million
Robert L. Nardelli of Home Depot $35.8 million
Gary D. Forsee of Sprint, Nextel $26.9 million

"It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
- Mother Theresa-

"If you can hurt others by your purchases, you can help others by your purchases"

-former CEO of Community Coffee-

stewardship continued

I'm pretty sure almost everything made at Wal-mart that doesn't say "made in the USA" on the label was made in a sweat shop. Interestingly, the research on this isn't from christians or left-liberal environmentalists, but from business poeple. [I'll bring some of that information with me the next time I'm in front of a computer so you can know] The unfortunate truth is that there are not many alternatives - I could shop at kroger but be buying the same product made by the same company - so it wouldn't really matter.

I think my point more was that, we should at least ask and take some effort to see whether we should spend $2 extra dollars on a frappachino at starbucks knowing that a laborer somewhere will get a fair wage because of our rightly spent abundance, or whether we should buy folgers or walmart brand coffee for $2 cheaper, causing laborer's somewhere not to be paid a fair wage and depositing into our pockets the $2 we saved so that we can spend it on ourselves elsewhere at our leisure. Our larger expendible income often comes at the price of someone else's complete lack of income.

Stewardship

Stewardship has often been mistaken for frugality. If I shop at Wal-mart, I can obtain the plethora of things which bring me comfort while spending very little money. Yet, I have exploited the poor. If I spend more money on each product to ensure that those laboring far away get fair wages, I may not be frugale, I may not purchase as many items, I may not be very comfortable, but I am a good steward. If I simply spend less, that is not enough; if I spend wisely, that can make a difference.

I was created for...HIM

I've encountered many people and companies who do not follow Christ and yet pursue social responsibility. It's easy sometimes to write them off because of some of the kooky ideas thrown in there - but such a response serves mostly to keep us comfortable without guilt.

Of all the people who should be socially responsible it is us: followers of Jesus...and we are being put to shame.

I can no longer deny that much of the comfortableness I surround myself with is at the expense of the poor. It is true that this happens very indirectly, and it would take great effort to find and purchase products more expensive and less accessible that were not manufactured by exploiting the poor - but if I were to be assuaged by the intentional effort it would take - I would be embracing comfort over the poor. I can't do that any longer, my Christ is asking for more of me and I will not say no.

-never settle-