Get Up and Work
But now you must put them all away:
anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. – Colossians 3:8
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy
and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving
each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you almost must forgive. –
Colossians 3:12-13
She gets so angry at the “sins” of others. She sits on
her sofa, watching Fox News, and gets more and more upset about all that others
have done to persecute Jesus. She goes on social media, blasting the liberals,
those in favor of gun control, immigrants, those on welfare. And on and on.
She looks in the mirror and calls herself justified
because she reads her Bible and prays daily. That is where her faith ends.
What is she doing to bring about change she claims to
want? Nothing. Unless, of course, you count ranting and pointing her polished
nail at all those she sees as wrong. All those she sees as less than
acceptable.
She is a modern-day Pharisee and she doesn’t have a
clue.
She is not alone. There are a great many who share her
views and her lack of action. One main point of contention: “They” have banned
Jesus from our schools. I agree that Jesus needs to be invited back into our
schools. But are we going to use hate or love in our efforts to bring Jesus to
the students?
What is she doing to make a change? What are you doing?
Our town has a wonderful program called FPKids. It was started as a way for
kids to meet at the flag pole at their school, share a Bible lesson and a
prayer, before school begins. It is run by volunteers. Some are parents. Some
aren’t. All simply love Jesus and are reaching out to kids in any way they can.
The elementary-age kids meet – with parental
permission – once each week. The volunteers are amazed at the response. One
school had to divide the students by grade levels because there were too many
children for one group. There is a hunger there that I don’t think anyone
really expected.
Is it a sacrifice for the volunteers? Of course, it
is. Some must get up earlier than usual because the group meets for 30 minutes
before school. Others must arrange to go to work late that day. But all believe
the sacrifice of time is worth reaching children and teaching them about Jesus.
These people aren’t focused on anger or revenge. They
aren’t pointing fingers at what others have done “wrong”. They’re simply loving
those God has placed before them, offering up kindness and compassion with a
large dose of Jesus’ love. They are being the hands and feet of Jesus.
It is so easy to forget that we aren’t called to a
life of sitting on the sidelines and pointing fingers at other sinners. We are
called to action. We are called to love those who aren’t easy to love. We are
called to do good where we are. Sometimes that means getting off the sofa and
actually working to change what we don’t like.
So what are you doing today? Are you sitting around
pointing fingers and spreading hate? Or are you actively loving those God has
put in your path?
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