(By Lois Robinson)
God laid something on my heart in early November and has not released me of it. I have asked Him whether this is a blog entry or not, and His answer is Yes. So here goes...
I don’t know about you, but I heard so many conversations, remarks and dialogue about the decisions made by many retail stores to open on Thanksgiving Day for shopping this past year. They were staying open longer and longer, even around the clock in some cases. I saw pictures on Facebook of pup tents set up outside of Best Buy in order to get the “best buy” AS SOON AS IT OPENS! Frustrated, angry conversations would ensue about it, voicing concern to the department stores who were so ridiculous to be open for business about the people who had to work and deserve to be with their families. I heard ENOUGH IS ENOUGH many times. “What is this world coming to” was another. One population of people up in arms about the retail decisions but rarely do anything about it, one population that loved it so they can shop and spend more, another maybe happy to get the extra money working to pay the light bill, whereas another one may resent that they had to work. And finally, another population did not care either way, quite apathetic to the entire issue. It doesn’t affect them either way so who cares.
God raised up something inside me while I listened and observed. It went something like this: We are such a superficial people. Listen to us. Complaining, angry, confused. Talking, talking, talking about the injustices of the retail store hours on Thanksgiving. Oh God, if we would only get this fired up about the things that break your heart like we get fired up about the “SHOPPING CENTER HOURS,” we would really make a difference in this sin-sick world. If we, God’s people would rise up against child, elder, spouse abuse, the homeless, poverty, gang violence, sex trafficking and sleeping churches who are called to be ambassadors of Jesus Christ, injustice, kids who are dying and no one cares, other countries that don’t know Jesus and no one cares, Christian marriages that are deadly but other Christians say stay in it even if it kills you, misuse of the Word of God, teens cutting themselves to pieces, girls and boys starving themselves to death (literally to death), grade school children in deep depression to the point of suicide, children having sexual addictions, drug addictions, alcohol addictions and the list goes on and on.
Ask yourself- On a scale of 1-10, how angry do you get about those things mentioned above? You may find that you do not think about them much at all. If you find that that is the case, I want to remind you of a truth:
God desires to Raise UP a People for HIS NAME, HIS PRAISE AND HIS GLORY!!!
God has called us to walk out our purposes in the authority of our King Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, bringing glimpses of His Kingdom into areas of darkness. Oh, may we be a people that rise up to be ambassadors of the light!
I have been reading through the Book of Acts, describing how Stephen, Peter and the disciples pray and then GO OUT! They got their marching orders straight from God through the person of the Holy Spirit and went out! Amen! People were healed, demons were cast out; they became disciples of Jesus Christ.
In the Powerful name of Jesus, let us grow emotionally and spiritually mature. We must begin to cry out to our Father, “Break our hearts for what breaks yours” as the Mercy Me songs so well says. Let us not continue to be blinded by our own agendas and hardness of hearts.
Challenge: What is God’s unique, one-of-a-kind design on your life? You do have one, and you cannot escape it just because you weren’t raised in a healthy home, weren’t raised in a Christian home and the list goes on and on.
I would encourage you to dive into Scripture, check out the early church in Acts. Stay tuned into Pastor Nate’s sermon series. Let’s all become the Church we are called to be!
Amen and Hallelujah, the Highest Praise.
