"She is full of contrast, more alive and closer to death than anyone I've known..."
"...We often ask God to show up. We pray prayers of rescue. Perhaps God would ask us to be that rescue, to be His body, to move for things that matter. He is not invisible when we come alive. I might be simple but more and more, I believe God works in love, speaks in love, is revealed in our love. I have seen that this week and honestly, it has been simple: Take a broken girl, treat her like a famous princess, give her the best seats in the house...Tell her something true when all she's known are lies. Tell her God loves her. Tell her about forgiveness, the possibility of freedom, tell her she was made to dance in white dresses. All these things are true.We are only asked to love, to offer hope to the many hopeless. We don't get to choose all the endings, but we are asked to play the rescuers. We won't solve all mysteries and our hearts will certainly break in such a vulnerable life, but it is the best way. We were made to be lovers bold in broken places, pouring ourselves out again and again until we're called home." (taken from "The Story" written by Jamie Tworkowski, creator of TWLOHA).More and more, I am beginning to FEEL a simple reality in the pit of my stomach: things aren't right. Broken hearts beat all around us. They're everywhere. Wounded lives shattered by abuse, deceit, and betrayal. Children dying every day from a handful of diseased water. Unthinkable sex crimes against women and young children - seemingly without hope. All the while we sit locked in "Lexus cages" of our own making with fingers in our ears, feeling as though "we've arrived". And yet, our complaints carry on of that "one other thing" we think we need or that "one other bill" we want paid. It's quite a contrast.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised because I've read about this before. "You can be certain that in the last days there will be some very hard times. People will love only themselves and money. They will be proud, stuck-up, rude, and disobedient to their parents. They will also be ungrateful, godless, heartless, and hateful. Their words will be cruel, and they will have no self-control or pity. These people will hate everything that is good. They will be sneaky, reckless, and puffed up with pride. Instead of loving God, they will love pleasure. Even though they will make a show of being religious, their religion won't be real." [2 Tim 3:1-5 (CEV)]. "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." [James 1:27 (CEV)]
It's hard to call "irrelevant" a text that is so on point. It shows me one thing: God knows what it means to really live. God sees the contrast...and it saddens Him. I've been racking my brain trying to figure something out - what's the remedy? "Perhaps God would ask us to be that rescue, to be His body, to move for things that matter. He is not invisible when we come alive."
BE THE REMEDY.
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