Care

What does it mean to care?  Truly care.

Years ago, about 11 of them to be exact, I got down on my knees in a Chicago hotel room and I asked God to break my heart for the things that break His.  It was a prayer He apparently delighted to answer.  I have been completely wrecked ever since.  Wrecked for the orphan, the oppressed, the poor, the widow.  All of the things that I firmly believe with all of my heart that are the VERY heart of God.  Jen Hatmaker in her book Interrupted talks about the "church" today and she poses the question, "Could it be?  Could it be that we have all colossally missed the point?"  Friends, I believe it is a very real possibility.  We have been so busy doing things for God, like attending church at least three times per week, including (for the love of all) Sunday School.  We have not missed a gathering.  We have stuffed our faces at the buffet line, walked the aisle, prayed the prayer and gone along our merry way - headed for heaven, and fat on doctrine, via the wide road.  The one that looks suspiciously like the path the rest of the world is traveling.  I do not believe it works that way.  Oh, I used to - so I am not attacking anyone.  In fact, I am pleading with anyone reading this to examine your heart.  I was a "good girl" - at least that's what the adults in my life thought.  I never missed a church service, including Sunday night where my sister and I were by decades the youngest in attendance.  I went to youth group, sunday school, summer camp, retreats, revival, visitation, lock ins - I prayed the prayer and walked the aisle, and "rededicated" my life so many times I lost count.  I could talk the talk and on Sundays and Wednesdays I could walk the walk.  My heart was filthy, I was a whitewashed tomb and I WAS NOT saved.  I can not speak for anyone else, only for myself, but there is not one shred of doubt in my mind.  If I had died at 17 or 18 or 19, despite the dunking I received at 10 and the innumerable Bible drills I had won in class, I would have died apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Does caring for the orphan and widow, and defending the poor and oppressed "earn" you a ticket to heaven?  It is a question worth asking, because there are some who think it might.  Some who hope that at the end of their life it will be as the ancient Egyptians believed, that God is on high with a justice scale, piling your "good" deeds on one side and your "bad" ones on the other and you are just hoping against hope that it all balances out in the end.  I am pleading with you - do not live this way.  It is burdensome, weighted and just TOO much pressure.  God does not need you.  Read that again before you go on.  He doesn't.  He is just fine in perfect community with Himself.  And all (ALL) of our "good" works are as filthy rags in His presence.  We can not do anything good for Him and friends, the freeing thing is that we do not have to.  He simply can not love you anymore than He does already if you are His child - and He can not love you any less either.  The "good works" that we were created to do are BECAUSE we love Him and because He has reached into the very pit of hell and rescued us.  Not SO He will grant us salvation, but because He already did.  Grace wins.  Every single time.

So, with that out of the way I will go back to the first question.  What does it mean to care??  Well, "caring" is an action word, and not the passive "feel good" word we are used to in our society. 

1 John 2:4-6 says this, "Whoever says 'I know Him' but does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the way in which He walked." 

James tells us in Chapter 2 that faith without works is dead.  Does he mean that we "earn" our salvation with our "works?"  Of course not!  Hear what he said.
 
^"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?  So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!"

To how many orphans do we basically pat on the head and say "go in peace."  Go in peace and do what?  Starve? Freeze? Get kidnapped and used for sex trafficking?  Cry in the night for a mommy that never shows up? 

I'm sorry friends, but this is not faith.  Not the faith that the One True God demands if we are going to call ourselves His children.  The road is narrow - He said that for a reason.

I do not write this to guilt anyone.  Those who know me know that I do not believe that every follower of Christ is called to adopt.  I believe that sentiment has gotten us in a lot of trouble and there are thousands of disrupted adoptions to prove it.  Anything done out of guilt is not from God.  I do however believe that every single believer is called to care for the orphan and widow.  Not an option.  If pure and undefiled religion before God is to care for the orphan and widow - then by golly I think He meant it.  Do we dare stand before Him at the end of our days and shrug our shoulders and say, "What?  You meant ME?"   I will go ahead and tell you - He meant YOU.

If you are having trouble figuring out how to help - just leave me a comment and I will send you a list.

I know many many adoptive families.  My daily prayer is that God will continue to add to our family through adoption.  One of my best friends in is the process of her 11th adoption.  Yes, eleven - add that to three biological kids and seven grands.  But, what she would tell you, what ALL of us would tell you is very simple.  We are not heroes.  We did not get a double dose of patience when God was handing out virtues.  We are just a family.  Just like yours.  We love, we argue, we get tired, we laugh, our house is a mess and we can't keep up.  Just like you.  But.....BUT, because we obeyed His call - we GET to participate in His work.

We GET to.

The joy, the blessing, the "luck" as so many want to say, does not mean what you think it means.  Our children are not "lucky" or even "blessed" to have us.  No, no no.  We are blessed to be a part of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.  We are having a blast!  And every single day I wake up and thank God that He did not allow us to miss this.  I would not trade our life for any worldly possession.  Friends, please ---- I get to and I am nothing special.  Believe me.  You can get to as well.

My cousin shared a quote on his FB today and I guess he made it up.  I can't get it out of my head.  He said this, "Anything in life worth doing is worth overdoing.  Moderation is for cowards."  Now I have absolutely no idea what he was referring to when he said it, but I have been told more times than I can count in the past few years that I have taken this "orphan thing" too far.  First of all, this "orphan thing" is not a thing at all - it is LIFE and redemption.  These precious children deserve a family.  They are no different that your precious children.  Picture your little one waking up from a nightmare, terrified.  What do you do?  You run to his side of course, you hug him you kiss him - maybe rock him back to sleep.  Now picture him sobbing in his bed night after night after night and no one comes.  His little body shaking with fear and terror.

Oh friends.....  my heart just can't.  And the sobbing in the bed is actually one of the best case scenarios I can think to share with you.  I could tell you about the ones who live on the streets, fighting for their lives, literally freezing too death.  Or the ones who are trafficked for sex or forced labor.  Yes, children.  Just like yours.

So, instead of continuing to make excuses or ignore the facts, how about we all ask God to break our hearts for the things that break His?  You will never be the same.  It will be hard.  You will wake up at night gasping for breath with little faces dancing through your dreams.  You will spend hours on your knees praying for children you will never meet in this lifetime.  You will rack your brain trying to raise money for adoptions to happen and you will cry and scream at the apathy of the "church."   But, you will also find yourself in the most amazing situations.  Things will happen to you that could only have been orchestrated by God Himself.  You will find yourself on the other side of the world or in conversations in your very own town with people that you would never have met on your own.  You will witness miracles, and they will even happen to you.  Sometimes you will be in a situation and you will shake your head for a minute in pure disbelief that THIS is your life.  Only God.  The blessings of a broken life far far outweigh the sacrifices you will make.  Where you are weak, He will show Himself absolutely, abundantly MIGHTY. 

So, even though deep down I am truly nothing but a coward myself, my God is HUGE.  He has granted me so much more than salvation - He has granted me freedom.  Freedom to live for Him.  I GET to.  And I don't want anything in my life to be "moderate" - I want to RUN into eternity completely and utterly USED UP. 

Will you join me???