THE HOLE IN ME

I felt like God wants me to share this with you guys. About two days ago, I was reading the book The Hole in our Gospel and I came across a point that made me stop. It was seriously like hitting a brick wall - It made me think.

When we read the news and hear about the starving children in Africa, we pause in sadness maybe for a second. But at one point we move on, turn the channel or flip the news page and go about our daily routine.

I challenge you to think about this. We have all, at some point in time, lost someone close to us, right? And for the most part it tares us apart (Instead: ‘Such an experience can be devastating – affecting us for years, and some their entire lives.’). Especially if that close loved one was your own child. Seriously think about this for a second. You would not only respond in remorse, and devastation, but you would respond with urgency, right? Well, what if one of those starving children from the news was on your front door step? What if that child was ringing your door bell, would you not stop everything, pick up the child and rush the child to the emergency room offering to pay it might cost to save their life in urgency as one human to another? The news bulletin that you might have looked over, and paused in sadness would become very personal wouldn’t it?

The problem that God laid on my heart so intensely was that I have to admit that I simply have less empathy for people of other cultures living in faraway countries than I do for Americans. My empathy is revolving around my social, my emotional, my cultural, my economical and my geographical way of thinking. Why do I distinguish the value of one human life over another, selfishness maybe?

I know that God doesn’t view people in that mind set. Richard Sterans said, “God doesn’t look at the suffering of a child in Cambodia or Malawi with a certain sense of emotional distance. God doesn’t have different levels of compassion based on a child’s geographical location, or their nationality, or their race, or parents, or income level. Each human being is precious to him.”

I know that I can be selfish, and the details of my own life can easily distract me. I also know that it I truly want to see into their eyes, into their souls, into their hearts, pain, loss or gains, of these children the way that God does, and if I want to know their names, I can’t just sit here and be angry with myself. It must be personal for me. How do I respond with urgency?

These are not just things that God is doing in me for the next big part of my life, but it’s for now. I know that when I let myself get in the way of ministry I will become selfish and even the kids that I see a few times a week will feel so distant from my heart, if I do not react-if I do not pray for a constant renewing of my heart- I will become hardened for God’s people.

I truly want my heart to be broken for what breaks God’s.

“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity.” –George Bernard Shaw