Radical Living, Radical Grace

Okay, so I already posted today, in the wee hours. But there's something more to say after I read dear sister Ann's post.

Do you know, at the same time the Compassion team is in Nicaragua, Ann Voskamp and her daughter, Hope, are in Uganda? Compassion is doing a story on Ann's sponsored child there.

Here are highlights from Ann's post today:

"Dear North American Church,
 
After a Sunday morning in Africa, you don’t look the same to me.
You look hungry.

Hungrier than anything I’ve seen in Africa.

Because after I watched that Ugandan woman?
 That one woman with no shoes and no husband and 7 kids, walk up to the front of the church and put this bag of beans into the basket as her love offering to God – my heart ached this raw conviction and I could feel it with you, North American Church, what you really wanted:

You’re hungry to love like this. You are hungry for the uncomfortable.
 
You are hungry to sacrifice your Starbucks coffees, your NetFlix subscription, your dinners out for something More. You’re hungry for more than vanilla services, and sweetened programs, and watered down lives.

You’re famished for More, for hard and holy things, for some real meat for your starved soul, some real dirt under your fingernails, some real sacrifice in your veins – some real Jesus in your blood and in your hands and in your feet."

This is the thing...we need to be hungry for Jesus. From that hunger we find the love, we find the sacrifice to do His work here. To be His representatives, to prove to the hurting that Jesus is alive! You are not forsaken, not forgotten. I am His servant and I am here for you. Take my extra and live. 

A hunger for Jesus. That's what we need to open our hands not a little, but all the way. Does God give a finite amount? No. He satisfies us, always.

We can give it all and not be hungry, but full.

In the same post Ann writes:

When that Compassion teacher stood under that tree on a Sunday morning and told the kids dressed up in not a whole lot more than tattered rags, “God lets us all give just like the widow’s offering,” he was smiling like he swallowed the infamous, original canary. He couldn’t stop laughing giddy:
“You don’t have to wait to have more, you don’t have to wait to have much, you don’t have to wait at all.”

And I’m looking into the eyes of all these African children, all these hungry, dancing eyes and the Compassion teacher’s literally dancing under the tree: “You all get to give!” It’s not just the rich who get to give – it’s all those who give who get to be rich.

You don’t wait until you have more before you give to God – you give now so you get to become more in God. The children are all smiling and singing and there’s all this light coming like dappled deliverance through the leaves.

“Bring your only mango to Jesus,” the Compassion teacher’s waving his hands in extravagant joy.

It’s not having much that makes you rich — it’s the giving much that makes you rich. Give and you are the rich.

And I’m sitting under a tree in Africa with the richest in the world and it’s not Bill Gates and it’s not Warren Buffet and it’s not Mark Zuckerman and it’s not the family with 2 cars, a flat screen television and one week at Disney.

It’s a bunch of kids in Africa in ripped shirts and torn shoes, who have no knives or forks and sleep on floors. It’s only the people who give sacrificially who get to live richly.

Friends, it doesn't take the right math. When we sponsored our Nelson 20 months ago, we did so knowing it would make my husband short on vehicle gas that week. He would make it to payday only by the grace of God.

He made it. And we've never missed a Compassion payment. We don't have health insurance, we don't have life insurance. We never take vacations or drive more than 45 minutes away. The budget is too tight. We rarely pay for entertainment. We only buy thrift store clothes. We don't buy steak but once or twice a year. I've never stepped foot in a Starbucks (okay, I don't drink coffee,) and I don't remember what the inside of a movie theatre is like. I borrow movies from the library for free.

None of this has to do with giving to Compassion, but more that my husband works a low-wage job.

My hormones change things a little a few days a month, but most of the time I love my life and I wouldn't trade. I wouldn't trade. Having little is a blessing you can't understand until you're there. I am blessed to be living this life...this one right here.

I assure you if you lower your standard of living considerably, you won't be miserable. You will know a joy deeper than your plenty ever afforded you.

If God has blessed you with much, know this: it's only a blessing if you give it away. Heck, you can give away more than you have, and watch it multiply until it is enough. You can give away your last food, and still be fed. Sound too radical? Sound preposterous and irresponsible?

Tell that to the Ugandan teacher under the tree in Africa, who laughs giddy at the miracle of it all.

Sponsor a child here. Nobody does it better than Compassional International. If you read the posts from this week, you will see that. They are God's representative...the hands and feet of Jesus. And you, with your letters, are the heart that says, "Dear Child, You and your life matter. I love you and Jesus loves you. He has great plans for you, plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future".
 

He is Holy

Dear friends, we continue our coverage of Compassion International's Blogging Trip to Nicaragua.

Day two posts were not up when I began writing, so today I present a message from the Lord himself. Yes, I'm pretty sure I heard His voice.

As I mentioned yesterday, the bloggers visited the trash dump where families forage for hours digging through trash, hoping to find recyclables worth less than $1 a day. One of the trip bloggers, Edie from Life in Grace, wrote:

"I was so haunted by the metaphor of this trash heap, by the decay, the smell and the hopelessness of it all. This is what separation from Christ feels like. This is Gehenna. This is hell on earth."

Man was created in the image of God. We were precious to Him, even as we smelt of decaying trash. While we were sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't ask us to leave the trash dump and get cleaned up first.

We were that precious; He loved us at our worst. Life itself was that precious to Him.

And it should be precious to us. Love your neighbor as yourself, saith the Lord. Whatever we need, we should also desire for our neighbor.

In light of this, what does God think about the trash dump and all the foragers who must work there?

He is grieved. 

And angry, too? Is God angry at these circumstances?

My goal when presenting world poverty is to season every post with gentleness and humility. I'm not there yet and that bothers me; the posts don't seem gentle, but rather preachy.

Okay, really preachy.

I prayed to God that I'd do a better job with this tonight. My mind contemplated it all day, through the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, the bandaids, the laundry, the baths.

My dilemma is this: there are two sides to God's character. To present truth, then, is to present both sides of who He is.

He loves us inexplicably. He's gentle, gracious, forgiving, warm, comforting. He's given us beautiful, life-giving prose in Psalms and solid wisdom in Proverbs. So many gifts and so much glory and beauty flow from Him and through Him.

That is one side of God--the side of Him that loves us, sustains us and redeems us.

The other side of His character has to do with His Holiness. This is a side often ignored, to our detriment.

For example, I have a relative visiting for the Fourth of July who professes to be a Christian, but is living with someone, out of wedlock. This is not a problem for her; she seems happy in fact.

Is she really a Christian? Were we fooled all this time? We knew she held liberal stances on many issues but this lifestyle change was still a shock. And now we have a responsibility, as fellow Christians, to redirect her, gently, during the visit. It would be more comfortable to ignore the sin, but we can't. We must give her the truth of the Word and remind her that she can't pick and choose what she likes from the Bible, because a Holy God demands obedience.

A Holy God possesses wrath.

Random House Webster College Dictionary has this to say about wrath: 1. stern or fierce anger; deep indignation; ire 2. vengeance or punishment as the result of anger.

I know better than to tell you if you spend too much on yourself and don't have any left to help the poor, God's vengeance will get you. This wouldn't help you want to change.

I can't change any hearts...not even my own. A new heart is a work of grace alone.

But I can remind you, and myself, that there are two sides to God's character. His Holy side will hold us accountable on Judgement Day for how we've spent the money that was His to begin with. And for how we've spent our time, which also is his. Since the Cross bought and paid for us, our time is not our own. Our life is not our own.

The Bible says we must help the poor. Like my wayward relative, we can't pick and choose what we'd like to obey in the Word.

Obedience in this area may mean no more salon-colored hair. Steak only once a month. Clothes from the thrift store. No new patio furniture. No kiddy pool for the kids. No vacation. Whatever.

The point is, this part of the Word must be dealt with in a sacrificial way. The heart of God in these scriptures is that we sacrifice for each other...that we live the gospel. If the $38 dollars a month to sponsor a child doesn't change your life much, then it isn't a sacrifice and it isn't enough. We give until it hurts to say thank you to God. Because we want to see Him glorified. Because we love Him.

Do you pray the scriptures? The Bible is God telling us: this is the path I want you to take. But we don't automatically get there; we are weak. We can't do it without asking for a change of heart. We have to pray the scriptures.

So let's pray:

Dear Heavenly Father, we love you. Thank you for saving us in our filth. Give us a burden for the poor, Lord. Give us the righteous stance you desire for our hearts. Help us spend less and give more. Help us give until it hurts so we can become more like you. Change the way we view money and time so that we see them as gifts to give away, not entitlements to cling to. Open our fists, Lord. Help us to see beyond our own desires. May we have the faith to act on your Word, knowing our daily bread is secure if we seek first your righteousness. We want to please you, live for you, glorify you. We want to reflect you to a child in need. I pray that each person reading, and my own family, finds room in our hearts for a first, or an additional, sponsor child. Take away every form of evil in our hearts that would prevent us from clicking Sponsor a child. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.

God is faithful, friend. If you've never sponsored before, this prayer is the first step. Cling tight to God's promises and let him renovate your heart. In no time you'll be running to your mailbox looking for a Compassion envelope that says: Message from your sponsored child.

That sentence will come to mean sheer joy to you, believe me. Obedience brings joy.

Sponsor a child here.

Follow all the blog posts from the week's trip here. 

View all the photos from the week here.

When a Two Year Old Naps on Trash

Good day to you, friends, and be blessed.

We continue our coverage of Compassion International's Blogging Trip to Nicaragua--a country that shares Denver's time zone, which means the bloggers are typing away and posting way after my bedtime.

Christy Jordan from Southern Plate posted earlier than the rest, so I can share a few highlights before I nod off.

Mrs. Jordan and the rest of the Compassion crew visited the dump today and went on two home visits--one to Christy's sponsored teenager's home.

Compassion International Photo - Nicaraguan Dump, shared on Southern Plate, 6/18/13

Do you remember the stench from your last trip to the city dump, however long ago that was? Lucita, a Nicaraguan grandmother, has worked at this dump for 22 years, picking plastic out of the trash to sell for less than $1.00 a day. She arrives at 5 in the morning and leaves after the last truck finishes dumping.

Christy shares what Lucita says: "I have worked here for 22 years. I am not ashamed to work here. This is what we do to survive. It is good work and I work hard."

It is good work and I work hard. Friends, that's a grateful heart. What do we have, instead, here in the first world? Grumbling and complaining and a sense of entitlement. We're all guilty at times, sadly.

Dear Lord, help us. Help us to open our eyes and see.

When Compassion takes these trips, who learns the most? The bloggers and readers, or the native people they visit? It's us my friends--the bloggers and readers.

We learn how empty we are, and how full they are.

We learn how little they have, and how much we have.

We learn how blessed they are, and how spoiled we are.

They have nothing, and yet they have everything. Dignity, joy, laughter, gratitude.

God isn't unfair in how He distributes wealth, and we aren't getting the better end of the deal. We have comfort and these people have God. We push God out of our comfortable lives because most of the time, we don't need Him. 

Those in abject poverty need Him every day to survive, and they don't forget him. They don't find better things to do than to sit down and talk with him. They don't use the material to push Him away.

Christy writes of a two-year-old child who accompanies her mother to the dump each day:

"A little angel, who appeared to be around two, found a pen top in a bundle of trash and began chewing on it, smiling as she pulled it out of her mouth to see how her teeth had pinched their outline into the plastic. Later she got tired and laid down on top of bags of trash for a little rest."

 I implore you, as you imagine a two-year-old child napping on bags of trash at the city dump, to sponsor a child, or spread the word. Please, do one or both of them today.

Because while that child may not mind napping on trash, God minds it a great deal. We are accountable for everything we've been given and we can't afford to mess this up.

The problem doesn't lie in how God's distributed wealth...but in how we're distributing it.

Luke 12:48 Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Follow all the blog posts from the week's trip here.

View all the photos from the week here.

Sponsor a child here. 

Both the quotes I shared here, and the picture shared above, are from Christy's blog post, here.  Keely Marie Scott takes all the trip photos.