"What you don't know can't hurt you"....how many times have we all heard that phrase or even said it...I know it's come out of my mouth before. I looked up the meaning of it by definition and it says this: "If you do not know about a problem or a misdeed, you will not be able to make yourself unhappy by worrying about it". I don't know about you but that doesn't sound too bad to me...less things on my plate less worries less stress less pain...ya know all the junk we don't like. Now the reason I'm going on about this is because we just watched a movie on sex trafficking tonight and have just returned from spending a week in a favela (large slum) here in Rio and as I was thinking about things this phrase popped into my head...and I just began to think about how easy that mentality is to have and how normal it is....whether we actually vocally say the phrase out loud or we live it...it's definitely evident. (myself included) But I would like to tweak it a little bit and say "what you don't know CAN hurt you" especially as the body of Christ. I will be the first to say I suck at knowing at what is happening in the world and being aware of what's going on in different nations and I really need to work on changing it. Because as I was thinking about this saying and thinking about this past week....I had this realization that as the body of Christ we are called to stand up for orphan and widowed, to be fathers to the fatherless, to pray for those in need, to intercede for our brothers and sisters...and how the heck can we do that if we have a mindset that is afraid of what we might find or be exposed to...or we think we can't handle what's happening in the world today....I/we need a wake up call...heck yea WE can't handle what's happening in the world today...but JESUS can...and He lives inside of us and when we depend on him and when He is our strength and he remains our focus we can take new perspective an ETERNAL perspective on the challenges and crap that is happening in our world today. I can tell you that I just spent a week in a favela..where seeing men carrying around machine guns, rifles, or pistols is normal...drug trafficking is a finely tuned well oiled and organized machine....boys at age 10 start getting into drug trafficking...girls as young as 12 start having kids...shootings/killings occur...drug lords run the show...people lose their hands for stealing things....and other things as well...but with all that said there's so much Jesus in that place it's amazing. Jesus is in the people and how loving and friendly they are and He is also doing an awesome work with YWAM and the churches there in reaching out to all people in the community. But with all that said I never could have known or been able to pray into these things without wanting to know and without searching it out and asking questions. (yes i get it i'm in the country on an outreach it's different) but still if we are afraid to learn and know about the dark and deep issues in today's world then how the heck are we supposed to help in bringing the light of Jesus there. I'm not saying be dumb and overwhelm yourself and take on a load you can't handle (you know your limits) but I'm challenging all of us to put aside our mentality of what is in front of us is the world and that's it and that's all we need to know because there's so much more. And there's so much each of us can do..we can advocate or give to an organization...we can PRAY which is huge and not to be underestimated...and other things as well...we can get creative who knows. But I just want to challenge you to go beyond the daily local news or the five minutes of global news...and actually get in to what's really going on in the world today and when you do ask Jesus for His perspective on things because he is all the hope there is...he is the light amongst the darkness...the life amongst death..the joy amongst sorrow...the peace in chaos....the justice in corruptness....the love in hatred....the forgiveness in judgement...the mercy in anger....and so so much more...and we need to know that and we need to believe that so that we can stand and do something.
ok that's my little rant...so thanks for reading...stories about our time will come soon...blessings on your day
Hali, there is so much truth in what you say. You have convicted me to pray MORE for all the things in the world that God shows me need His attention and love, and to do what I can where I can. You have sent a message of hope that we can be overcomers, and indeed we can! Thank you for the inspiration and for your wisdom. I look forward to seeing you face to face...SOON!!
ReplyDeleteLove, Monica