I knocked on your door last night. You opened it a crack and I could see everyone sitting around the table. Fine china, silver candlesticks, happy faces, friendly chit-chat, plates piled high with fancy food.
You were busy, you said. I thought maybe you heard my stomach growl because I saw you glance down. But, I didn't tell you that I hadn't eaten for days. You had company, you said. It just wasn't a good time. You closed the door and I turned away, but I could hear your muffled voice answering that it was 'you know who'.
Honestly, it surprised me to be turned away from your house. You told me if I ever needed anything, I should come to you. Then, since I heard you talking about me from inside, I sat down to listen.
"Who was that?"
"That, was 'you know who.'"
Murmured 'oh's' were voiced around the table.
"What'd he want, anyway?"
"I thought he'd left town days ago"
"I didn't ask him," you said matter-of-factly. "But, seriously, who shows up uninvited at suppertime? It's just rude!"
I became your special topic of discussion for the rest of supper. Now I know why people say that churches are filled with hypocrites. Talking about me behind my back? Discussing my moral failures? I heard all the judgment in your voices. And what's worse is that you don't even know my side of the story. Oh yeah, that's because you never asked. I doubt you'd believe me if I tried to tell you. Oh, nevermind. I'm done here.
The visitor stood up and dusted off his pants. Silently, he walked away from the house of someone he thought had been his friend. He simultaneously labeled Christians as hypocrites, God as dead and life as meaningless. He never visited a church again. Whenever he flipped through channels on the TV, he made sure to avoid the religious ones, knowing they were just a bunch of phonies anyway. He died at age 52. His family and friends mourned his departing.
Of course, you never cared to know any of that. You wrote him off when he was nineteen. When you didn't see him in church the next Sunday, you were kind of relieved that you wouldn't have to pretend to be interested in his situation. A sort of satisfaction came over you because you knew from the start that he wouldn't make it anyway. That's why you didn't bother wasting too much time on him.
What Have I Done?
by Joy Wegener
Heed the cry of desperate people
No tuning it out. No looking away.
No plugging the ears
as they, falling, begging, slip further away.
Away and over and down, down, down.
Because cavernous, hungry, darkness needs
the blinded, wounded, the bitter, deceived.
The proud and oblivious, the naive and agnostic.
Digested, expelled. The beast craves more.
Mouth open wide, he eats whoever falls inside.
Where is the watchman? Where is the shepherd?
Something is missing! Where is the man?
Someone to warn them. Someone to stand.
A friend or brother, son or daughter!
They're distracted, busy, too tired to care, too timid to preach.
Then a face, a hand, a finger is seen.
Recognition. You know me. I remember.
I stand unmoving, frozen stone and ice
and your eyes ask 'why?' as you slide by.
All my reasons...not one of them is good.
You're gone. Over the edge, the beast grunts.
Still eating, still hungry. Smiling as he's continuously fed.
Still growling, more, more, more!!
And I hear screaming, terrified.
What have I done by not doing anything?
Friends,
It's so easy to ignore the real needs of people around us. It is too easy to not even see. Our friends and families, the people we work with, go to school with and eat lunch with put up a good front. Unless we purpose in our hearts to look past their tough or satisfied exteriors and ask God to help us address the issues of their hearts, we will fail to reach them.
Deuteronomy 32:46-47 "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day...they are not idle words for you. They are your life."
When did we stop recognizing God's word as our very life? Slowly, we let one thing and then another and another fill up our lives and we ran out of time to read, to pray, to study, and even to care about people. Instead of life being about getting to know God and bringing others to know him, it became just an endless to-do list. Rushing from one task to the other from dawn to dark and always knowing that there's too much to do, but never being able to cut back on activities...some of us live like that.
When we are confonted with an opportunity to help someone, we shrink back because we're exhausted from the incessant rigamarole of life. Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen the important thing and it would not be taken from her. What had Mary chosen to do? To forget about the mess around her and sit at the feet of Jesus, just focusing, listening to Him. Really, she just became so captivated by Jesus that everything else seemed so unimportant.
The world tells us to set time aside for yourself. Love yourself. The Bible says the exact opposite. Forget yourself, your needs, wants and focus on Jesus. Because here's what happens. When you actually focus your life on Jesus and you do this day in, day out...he defines you! What He wants over shines what you want. What you want changes into and becomes what He wants.
There is a closeness to Him and of Him that can be experienced on this earth that we have fallen far short of. He can lead us, strengthen us, cause us to rest. He keeps us from wasting time and from missing opportunities. He gives us energy and strength and causes us to lay our heads down at night and sleep peacefully, waking up satisfied from a good night of sleep. He steers us clear of danger and takes us on wild adventures. He opens our eyes to wonderful things in his word and speaks through us to others.
There IS a degree, a level of closeness to Him and of Him that we have thought was impossible, but it is not. It's not impossible when you turn the TV off, shutdown the computer, open the Bible and spend time with God. When the focus of our lives becomes knowing Him, pleasing Him, loving Him, and serving Him instead of WIIFMs or 'what's in it for me' great things can happen, even 'impossible' things.
These are just some things that have been on my heart and I wanted to share them with you.
-Joy
