As everyone knows, a huge earthquake hit Haiti yesterday. When I looked at the images, heard the stories, read the blogs, my heart was broken. On the way to my high school, where I would watch the varsity girls play, I cried out to the Lord. It was the first time in a while that I wept tears of real desire, genuine wanting the Lord to rescue and help people who are in dire need, utter suffering. I begged God to help them, and to have his way with me, send me, keep me, use me, whatever. Today I've been praying a lot, fasting a bit, bringing my requests and broken heart before the Lord.
I want to help.
I was posed with a question though-- why does the tragedy of Haiti sadden me and offend me and frighten me and inspire me more than the thought of the tragedy of hell? I thought about how terrifying situations like these are. Hundreds and thousands of people utterly broken, with everything taken from them. I think about Darfur, about Haiti, about other places in the world with terrible injustices and wrongs. How awful. Then I think about hell. Hell is like the same thing, only it's forever. And worse. Believe me, I do not, in any way, want to minimize the size and importance of issues like these, but I have to wonder about my priorities. Even if I were able to "fix", heal, restore the people of Haiti back to health and the way it was, even if it were possible to end injustice in Sudan right now, even if I could give fair wages end the injustices in all the world, hell would still be there. Souls that are not redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ would still suffer for all eternity.
I want to heal, restore, and redeem. I want people to live lives of joy. I think it's awful for Haiti. I'm utterly broken by it. But at the same time, I question whether going to rebuild and show love there is absolutely his desire for me. Yes, in the end, "the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me'" (Matthew 25). Yes, by doing so, I would be doing it unto Jesus Christ the Lord. Yet I don't know how effective it would be in saving souls for the kingdom of God.
Why does the thought of human suffering offend and motivate me more than the thought of eternal separation from Christ?
I hope I don't fluster and anger anybody, but I want to approach all things from a godly standpoint. I hope and pray to God that whatever I do, I do to save souls from damnation. I hope to God I don't confuse that idea with the idea of saving people from suffering in this life. Isn't it more glorifying to God to bring people into the saving knowledge of Christ than to bring them into comfort for the rest of their earthly life?
I will be praying and trusting that I will be able to reconcile my desire to help the suffering with my desire for their salvation. I think it's possible to fulfill both.
I like this a lot!
ReplyDeleteSome other stuff to think about. Many people use suffering as an excuse to reject God. However, suffering is why we need Him. As unfortunate as it is that the earthquake happened, it is a great opportunity to witness to those who are in doubt. God gave us the desire to live, so that we will be joyous about eternal life. It gives us hope. Use a person's desire to live as an opportunity to tell them about eternal life.
Suffering exists because of Adam. We are all sinners, and therefore, we all suffer. It can't be separated. Someone once told me that we live in a fallen creation. So many bad things happen. We will never fully know why bad things happen to certain people, or why God allows innocent people to die. My natural reaction is anger, but then I have to stop myself and remember that we live in a world of suffering because of sin. This is why I need God's loving mercy, so that when I too die, I will no longer have to live in suffering.
Everywhere we look we see pain. It's upsetting and heart breaking, but it exists because of sin. So many people take temporal pleasure in sin, which brings more pain later on. I don't know why God does certain things He does, but if He decided to get rid of suffering, stop the earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, illnesses and violence and all the other bad stuff, if everything worked for us and not against us, that would eliminate our need for a creator and a savior.
Thank you for posting this. I really needed to read this and think about it. You know, we should talk more.
these are some very deep, very heartfelt thoughts. you bring up some very thought provoking points.
ReplyDeleteyou are completely right about the situations all over the world including darfur and haiti, are just a little taste of what hell would be like. just like the most wonderful places we visit on earth with the best company can barely give us an image of what a glorious place heaven is. your connection between these atrocities and the tragedy of the human soul not given to God are so very interrelated.
you hit matthew 25 on the head and those words are so true. The greatest commands God gives us is to, love God, love others and make disciples. and like you said, although it may seem as though simply helping with earthly things wouldnt accomplish as much as preaching the gospel and sharing christ, they really go hand in hand. he said to love and we do that by helping and showing that love in a tangible way, through your actions. and with that you end up forming relationships with the people you are serving and ministering to. and you have to form relationships in order to fully show and teach people who Christ is. and making disciples is much more of a long term thing, that requires a lot of work.
so idk, this is a lot of my raw thoughts, i cant organize them very well right now...
Arfie
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that you are thinking through these things, and like I said to you before, I am praying with you through it. I am grateful to God for the compassion he has worked in your heart. I think the question you ask in this entry is one that evangelicalism as a whole is asking right now. A huge trend is afoot at present, for better or worse, to identify "saving souls" and improving people's earthly conditions as equal partners in God's mission for the church.
A few small questions for you to consider, that maybe aren't brought up much. Who are the hungry, naked, imprisoned strangers Jesus is talking about in Matthew 25? Are they anyone -- or could it be they are Christians? In verse 40 he says, "to the extent you did it to one of these BROTHERS of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me." It could be worth looking at some commentaries to find out how this parable fits into its contect in Matthew and what situation Jesus is addressing. I have found the New Testament, including the gospels, strangely full of commands on how believers are to serve other believers, but spare in instruction on how believers are to serve outsiders. Little hints here and there, like Galatians 6:10. Jesus does talk about giving to the poor in Matthew 6, and of course there are the Great Commission texts and all the preaching in Acts, which seem more oriented towards proclamation than service.
Secondly, do other parables of Jesus demonstrate a prioritization of the eternal over the temporal? Check out Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:16ff; Matthew 6:19ff (double fs mean "and following verses").
I think that you are right it's possible to fulfill both your desire to help the suffering and your desire for their salvation. As I've said, I will be praying for your discernment.
And I think it's awesome that you started a blog. I am a big fan already.
Love,
Collin.