I spent a summer doing humanitarian work in Peru. I scrimped and saved and even accepted donations. But was I more useful while I was there than the thousands I spent getting there could have been in the hands of those who were already there? Oh, but I built relationships. That makes an eternal difference. Those who are working already in Huancayo have already built relationships, lasting ones. They know the needs of the children and families there and quite frankly, everything in South America is much cheaper there than I could buy it here (not to mention shipping costs). I have known this since I left. Why am I not scrimping and saving now to send money to them? Or to anyone? My "mission" is over. I've "served" and now it's only something I talk about to make people think I'm altruistic or supernaturally caring and loving. "I went all the way to Peru to love on people. Look at me."
I remember watching an episode of "Lifestlyes of the Rich and Famous" and seeing that J-lo spends 40k per year on her face cream. I can still see the swirling purple tubs with dollar sign graphics dancing around them. I remember feeling disgusted with her and thinking, "If she would just have some compassion and be slightly inconvenienced by doing without her face cream, she could send me to college and change my life."
The blood of African children is saying the same thing to me. If I could be ever so slightly inconvenienced by not drinking a cup of coffee (or sometimes two) every morning, I could send $15 a month to world vision or compassion international keep someone alive.
ALIVE.
I could make the difference between life and death. This isn't about adding $15 to my bottom line of expenses and then continuing to enjoy my usual luxuries until I forget about those in need. I need to sacrifice a little for this. I need to remember that it's not about me. I need to have compassion as I go through my usual morning routine or through my day.
Ha! Doing without a cup of coffee is sacrifice?? I am so spoiled. After three days without it, I will probably not even notice it much. Not to mention the fact that it is hardly necessary to my diet. That can barely be called a sacrifice, but I will start there.
So that's where I'm at when it comes to physical poverty. But there is another real and present danger among us: spiritual poverty. Though "undeveloped" (what a terribly inaccurate word to use) nations have real physical poverties, are they spiritually poor? Yes, probably. More than the US? More than where I am?
No doubt I live in one of the (if not, the single most) spiritual depraved nations in the world (if not, the history of the world). What am I doing here?
I want to go where coffee doesn't matter and neither do appearances or iPhones or chlorine free diapers. It would be easier there.
Bloom where you are planted.
Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all the churches. (1 Corinthians 7:17 NLT)
How convenient to me as a Christian that I'm planted in a field ready for working! How can I not take advantage of this opportunity!?
I'm thinking of the great commission. When Jesus said to "go into all the earth," he was physically in Jerusalem. My American hometown, my backyard, is part of this vast expanse of "all the earth." Was Jesus giving me a command to travel or telling me to bloom?
Though the African blood of many is crying out to me, a broken heart across the street is calling too. A young girl who keeps calling me her mentor (the poor thing) is calling too. A mother who needs grace is calling me. A husband who needs encouragement and a daughter who needs my patience when answering her unanswerable questions like "Why?" and "Did god make cows or stop signs first?" is calling for my action. Another daughter who needs me lay on the floor and forget about my to-do list is calling me. A girl in my newsfeed who needs acceptance is crying out. A woman who made a mistake many years ago and is calling my office to find healing is in my American life for a reason.
These spiritual needs are pressing, and to quote a sermon I recently heard, "Jesus always cared more about the spiritual than the physical."
I don't want to find the almost expired items in my pantry and call it helping the food bank. I don't want to haul off the rumpled, unlaundered mess of clothes in the back of my closet and fool myself into thinking I'm meeting some fat American's needs. America's needs are mainly spiritual, not physical.
In this season, I will sacrifice my wants and luxuries, starting with my daily brew. I will be a good steward of what is given to me. I will send my physical money to where it is needed, to the other "ends of the earth:" to those who need my money more than my silly, god-complex, American personality. And I will spiritually serve here, in this rich American soil where I was planted. I don't have to go all the way to Peru to love on people. I will make a difference in the lives of the people put in my life by the God of the universe. I will connect with them on their level and meet their needs with my silly American personality. I will invite the heart across the street over for a cup of ...well, coffee probably.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be
my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NLT)
In Jerusalem, their backyard, first.
A cup of coffee first.
Oh Jesus, be first and foremost in my life!
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