Burden.

Friends,

Bombardment of statistics, propaganda and peoples opinion's is overwhelming and burdensome. We’re in the midst of choices clouded by self and sin. Choices that try to define our fallen existence and wage war on our quest through life for truth. We’ve all asked ourselves “what is truth?” The truth is that we are in a fallen world, filled with fallen people and we fall. We make mistakes. We turn right instead of left and then deal with the consequences of what we think shouldn’t be. Then comes guilt. Shame. Loneliness. And depression.

- Twenty percent of people in the world live on one dollar a day.
- Another 20 percent live on two dollars a day.
- Twenty percent of us live on more than seventy dollars a day.
- More than two billion children live in our world, half in poverty.
- One out of every four children in the world has to work instead of going to school.
- Eight percent of people in the world own a car.
- Over one billion people have unsafe drinking water.
- A child dies of hunger every sixteen seconds.

Overwhelming? You bet. What do we do with this burden?

“Next to money and guns, the third largest North American export is the U.S. idealist, who turns up in every theater of the world: the teacher, the volunteer, the missionary, the community organizer, the economic developer, and the vacationing do-gooders. Ideally, these people define their role as service. Actually, they frequently wind up alleviating the damage done by money and weapons, or “seducing” the “underdeveloped” to the benefits of the world of affluence and achievement. Perhaps this is the moment to instead bring home to the people of the U.S. the knowledge that the way of life they have chosen simply is not alive enough to be shared.” -Ivan Illich

Are our good intentions to share our lives, our ideals, our opinions and our rights, right? Or even good for that matter? My answer right now is no (still in the process). So what should we share?

Truth.

“Love seeks not its own.” – Paul

Love isn’t self-seeking. God calls us to love Him first then love others. It’s impossible for us to truly love others if we do not first love God with all of our heart, soul and mind. We will fail, but the beauty is that God uses our failures to draw us back to Him.

What if our self-seeking was really seeking the good of others? Would this be considered love?

We must first ask, what is the good of others? Is what’s “good” for me good for you? [God, love, truth, salvation, and the fruit of the Spirit are good for everyone – but I’m talking about humanitarianism].

The only way I’ll ever know what’s good for someone else is to ask. To know them, live life and be in community with them.  

Something for us(or me) to ponder.

Love.