Give Life – Blog »

Have you ever seen a typical village home, a mud-hut with a grass roof?  Most likely not while driving through your neighborhood.  Probably you have seen it on television, maybe on National Geographic.  Maybe it almost seemed a little picturesque, you thought it might be interesting to even see one up close one day, if you were there you would probably take a picture.  What if that hut was your reality?  What if you saw it up-close every day.  What if it was the place that you raised your children, the place where you laid your baby down to sleep.   The place where you woke up in the morning.

It is hard to imagine what it would be like to live in the way that the majority of the world does.  Whatever picture the outside of that hut paints, I assure you that it is far different from the inside.  The outside of a hut is not all that bad.  There is still freedom, fresh air, sunlight, a cool breeze; and for the more fortunate, the comfort of knowing that it is only a visit.  On the inside, however, you find darkness, a heavy earthy smell, dampness, and the feeling of being trapped; and for the less fortunate, the hopelessness of it being reality.  In a way the hut actually paints a pretty good picture of what it means to be in absolute poverty.

In a way the hut also represents the way that much of the developed world looks at the plight of the poor.  We don’t deny that they are there, or even that they are severely impoverished; but, we also don’t fully relate to their reality either.  Sure, when we look from the outside we admit that it isn’t good and not in any way what we would want. Yet we are removed from the taste of it.

This last thought reminds me of the verse Hebrews 2:9, describing the work of Jesus.  It says, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”[emphasis mine].  The idea of taste really paints a picture of the entering into the hut, so-to-speak.  What a clear example we have, the idea of entering into the suffering of those who are in need.

I know that this isn’t an easy challenge, we are faced every day with this battle, but somewhere within our spirit we know what we have to do.  We know that we can’t really touch a life without… well, touching it.  As simple and redundant as that statement is, it speaks volumes.  It is that touch that people need, that willingness for someone to freely release a part of themselves in order to fill a void.  It is selfless, tangible love that has always made a difference.  This is what makes the Gospel of the Kingdom so breathtaking.

The title poses the question, could it be possible to see mankind together in perfect harmony?  Not just pockets of like-minded individuals, but those who are different by race, culture, status, sex, age all functioning together as part of a whole.  In Colossians 3: 11-16 it states that this idea is actually ideal and that the gospel even establishes it as the way it ought to be.  The world of Paul’s day was no different than much of the word today.  The flesh naturally seeks to exalt itself.  Without the influence of Christ, and his higher ways, man will fracture into a hierarchy of the classes and masses; each seeking to protect and propel himself through the oppression of others.  In the ancient world there were divisions of slave and free, divisions of male and female, divisions of ethnicity, divisions of culture, divisions of religion, and so on.  In Christ all mankind is brought to a level playing field which recognizes that we are all the same in our need for Him.  We are not exalted because of anything that we are, or that we have, or that we believe.  We are all hopelessly lost outside of His grace.  We are all His children.  We don’t have the right to oppress those that are different or weaker or less fortunate than us; we also can’t ignore their plight, justifying ourselves by our own indifference.

We can’t discard babies because they are inconvenient or unwanted.  We can’t oppress others who are in less fortunate positions, or who are weaker in some way than us.  The gospel calls for a love which is so pure that it drove the One, Jesus Christ, who was in the Father from eternity, the maker of heaven and earth, the exalted of heaven, to empty of himself, to see His position as nothing to be grasped and to take on the form of a servant.  He is our example in the fact that we have to experience a “self-emptying” in order to be able to truly participate in God’s restorative work.

Those that are oppressed are often so for no other reason than their station in life, or the sum total of their situation.  The gospel recognizes something that the natural man doesn’t; that is, that we are not our own.  We are held together by God, through His Word.  “In Him we live, move, exist and even have our being.  As Acts chapter 17 states, God has made all mankind and He has appointed all their days and the places of their habitation.  We have not chosen our own station in life, we are very much a product of God’s choosing and though we can’t understand His ways, it doesn’t mean that we are in a position to forget the fact that He has done it all for a reason; that is, that all mankind would seek Him.  Whether poor or rich, weak or strong, educated or ignorant, male or female, young or old, we are all essentially the same.  Any greatness that we have comes through His grace.  The message of the gospel brings us back to the God’s perfectly created order, where all of mankind was unified under one source of Life.  Through love the reality of hope, dignity, peace, prosperity is recognized and to sum it up, the opportunity for each person to reach their full potential is realized.

So, it is clear that the gospel lifts up the oppressed and marginalized and brings them to a level field.  But, some would say that it does this at the expense of those that are, by definition, the higher class.  Is this the case?  It is not, in fact to the contrary, the gospel allows even those who seem to be exalted to transcend their station in life.  For the natural man will always be seeking to progress, but will never reach his destination.  There will be someone smarter, richer, better, stronger; but, in Christ we learn what is a mystery to the natural man.  We learn that to go higher requires humility.  To truly see the sum of one’s talents be maximized to their greatest potential requires something that no man can claim as His own, it requires the hand of God; thus, the gospel of the kingdom stands in stark opposition to the gospel of the flesh.  True, the worlds wisdom will not recognize this principle, which is no surprise, the world did not recognize their Savior, they still don’t and so the same old system continues.  The strong rule the weak, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, mankind exalts himself at the expense of others.  Through it all we fail to grasp the perfect love and purpose which has been revealed through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the One was and is higher than all else, yet chose to empty himself so that mankind may learn of the love of God which “binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

You are the One, the only One, the first One, the preeminent One

the One who was before and behind, the One who sent his son, the one who is the Son

who put the Sun in motion to warm the earth

the One who warms my heart, who gave me another start despite my sin

You are the One God, the One Lord, you are the One hope that I have

the One promise of a better future, or a better today. 

The One promise which will never be broken, that will never be forgotten

  You have promised One body, which was broken, for me and for us 

One God, One King, One Love, One Truth

One for all, and if we only were all for One,

with one passion in our lives, with one purpose to pursue, with one thing to do

To set life around the One who our praise is due, who turns our eyes to the Truth 

One, only one name in heaven and earth

by which a man can be saved, the One… Jesus Christ the Son.  

Recently I have been reflecting on a certain aspect of personal surrender. I have been thinking about the act of surrender, how that too often it is simply that… an act. Sure, the surrender at that moment was real and sincere and even sacrificial; but, then it is done and life hits and that moment has passed and you are faced with the fact that no one gets anywhere with one step.

This train of thought was brought about by something we have experienced over the last couple of years. It seems that the fact that our family is living in Zambia and that we have surrendered, as it were, to be full-time missionaries that we are at the receiving end of certain admiration or encouragements. I want to say humbly that we appreciate the words and we want nothing more than to be faithful to the calling of God; but, truthfully the accolades usually cause a bit of discomfort for us personally. We are too familiar with ourselves to truly accept any type of praise that would portray us as somehow special, devoted, or otherwise sacrificial Christians. It feels a bit hypocritical to be viewed in that light.

What am I saying? Though it is true that we made a single decision, which could be seen as radical or sacrificial, does this mean that this type of surrender is defining our lives. I long to say yes, though the truth is that making a single decision to surrender doesn’t negate the fact that we are still at the mercy of our human nature. I have seen this personally in our lives. Without even thinking about it we are prone to slip back into our normal state of selfishness and apathy.

This may come as a surprise. After all, we do live in Chongwe, Zambia. It is true that this place is destitute and difficult. It is really challenging to live here and to be away from everyone and everything we know, and it took a real step of faith to pick up and move here with our family; but, I have learned that the place doesn’t matter all that much. We are prone to dig out our own little existence here or anywhere, complete with all the creature comforts and distractions that we have come to see as part of what we deserve or expect in life.

I was thinking about how this plays out in the life of a Christ-follower. How about the significance of Jesus words, “if anyone wishes to come after me, let him take up his cross, deny himself daily and follow after me.” It is the “daily” part that is so significant. It is the living as a sacrifice that is challenging. Not the act or the step, but the walk of continually surrendering to burden of the cross.

We have grace because this thing, this walk with Christ, is a process. The battle with the flesh is real and it is continual and it is a work that is being completed in us. As for me, I am just praying that I can take the next step and then the one following that, until the point where surrender becomes a lifestyle and abandoning the flesh doesn’t feel like such an impossible task.

That we might have the grace to walk forward and not stand still in our surrender to all that God has for us.