A portrait of my world

I’ve just been thinking quite deeply about the word “lord” lately. In the Harry Potter series He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is called by his followers as the Dark Lord. They treat him with the utmost respect and honour; they wimper at his feet and dearly call him “My Lord”.

In the same way, us Christians are found talking about the Lord Jesus, Lord, Lord, Lord. But is the respect, and honour, and reverence of that name actually there? Or are we numb to it all; are our mouths so accustomed to saying this word “lord” that it has lost its meaning? A dictionary defines the word as “a person who has authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, or ruler.”

The next time we catch ourselves praying “Lord, I want this and I don’t like what you’re doing with that”, let’s wake up and understand that this in itself is a contradiction. You don’t tell your master what to do; and you certainly don’t call someone your master if you’re not prepared to follow him and give him authority, control, power.

And just another thought.

God spoke in a still, small voice to Elijah (1 Kings 19 if you’re confused). The fire, the wind, the loudness and racket passed by and God came in a whisper. All this shows is that we shouldn’t just be expecting Him in grand, elaborate moments. It doesn’t mean that He will only speak in the quiet. Who knows, it may be through fire or the loud wind for you. To me this shows that there’s all the more reason to be alert all the time.

I think about this concept that we’re called the human race. I think it kind of sums it up perfectly because that’s exactly what we’ve made it, you know, it’s a race and it’s like everybody is on this journey and we’re all running and striving and pushing past each other, trying to get to the front and looking for the next shortcut, and all the while maybe you’re not even really knowing where it is we’re going or what’s at the finish line.

The crazy thing is, we can spend the best part of our lives trying to get to the top hoping that it’ll all make sense when we arrive at this thing called success, or wealth, or fame, or security. I don’t know if any of those things are actually a destination.

It’s like you can chase those things and keep chasing them but you’re never going to arrive; it’s always just going to be around the corner and sometimes I wonder whether things would look different if we realised that maybe, maybe the human race isn’t about who comes first. And I wonder what it would look like if our eyes were opened to the fact that maybe the human race is not a race at all. That it’s not a competition.

Joel Houston (I Heart Revolution)

Last night after a meeting with the Youth Kosta worship team in the City, we were hanging around outside Dunkin Donuts before saying goodbyes and going home. A scraggy, smelly, rough looking man walked into the middle of our group and asked for money. No one responded, he was obviously drunk and did not ask with a friendly voice. I had just spent most of my money and all I had left was three silver coins, which does not amount to much. I thought it would be better not to give anything at all rather than giving this pathetic amount of cash.

With empty hands the man walked on grumpily. “You weren’t even born here,” he said, followed by “Go back to work” in a very angry tone. My heart moved me to chase after him. I didn’t have much at all, but I held his clenched fist open and gave him the three coins saying, “It’s not much but please take this sir. And actually, I WAS born here.”

I think there was more heart in this giving of a few silver coins than any previous giving of a 10 dollar note to a beggar or charity. We must give like this. With heart. Because even the drunk man is caught off guard when a bit of love hits him.

When we read about Jesus speaking to the oppressed in the Bible, we think we are part of this group of people; we relate ourselves to them. But no my friends, we are the oppressors.

Being laughed at because we believe in God isn’t oppression; oppression is seeing the dying African kid on TV or the smelly homeless man on the street, feeling a little sorry for them and returning to our own world of luxuries like nothing is wrong with the world. Christians go to church and hear a man preach about changing the world, only to return to a nice home in a nice car worrying about what app to download next or what to pick from the array of items in the fridge.

Are we not participating in the very things Jesus came to set people free from? I plead you to wake up.

The saddest thing is that many people will read this, maybe even Like it, but very few will change even a little.

People forgotten, people oppressed are people nonetheless. We must stop them from becoming even more invisible than they are today.

I’ll say it straight up. New Zealand is hosting this year’s Rugby World Cup. They want a good image, a clean environment, a safe looking city, and having homeless people lying around on the streets just won’t do for them. Yes, maybe people begging for coins outside a shop may be reasonably taken to another less exposed places, but the homeless friend of G+P, Sebastian, who stayed in a quiet, unnoticeable place under the Myers Park bridge, has been sent away as well.

The poor are being marginalised and no matter what your beliefs are, this is sad news.

We first met Sebastian on the morning of our outreach to the homeless, under the name of GOD+PEOPLE, because these are the two parties we wish to love and serve. We gave him a pack of things to wear and eat, and sang a song of blessing for him. The second time we visited him, he remembered us and wrote down me and my friend’s names; we talked about many things and found that there is nothing different about him and us except for external circumstances. The third time we visited him, we celebrated his birthday and by that time we didn’t need explanations of who we are. We were friends.

This morning, after street worship in the City, we bought a sandwich and a bottle of juice and headed towards Myers Park, only to find that Sebastian’s spot was caged up.

Why are they putting so much effort and money into making this, just to prevent an innocent person without a home from staying in this hidden place? My friend mentioned that it would’ve been far better to just send Sebastian off with the money than spending it on setting this up.

Meanwhile, I see Christians on Facebook reposting silly statuses saying that they love God and will not deny the Lord in front of their online friends. We shouldn’t need to repost semi-blackmailing statuses that make us feel guilty if we don’t copy and paste them, for the world to know that we love God.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3:16-18

A life of love involves getting off the computer and going out to sacrifice time for people. A life of love does not involve sitting around and complaining about how screwed up this world is but not standing up to do anything about it. Love is seen clearly in actions, because anyone can swing “love” around as a word.

I challenge you to live a life of love. It’s the running theme of the whole Bible and the reason Jesus walked on this earth.

When you love somebody you miss them. I truly miss my friend Sebastian. I think the most beautiful thing I can do is praying over his steps, trusting that the Lord is faithful. I guess time waits up for no one; so love your neighbour today, since you never know where they may be tomorrow.

This morning, a few of us from G+P visited Rangitoto College to hold a worship and prayer meeting with the students there. It was my first time stepping foot in this high school. We met in a classroom and started to praise God; once the class was full of students, an ex-student of the school spoke a short message of encouragement, followed by a message from me as well. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 it says “warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” This was in the middle of my heart as I went to this school; to wake up the idle Christians in that school, to encourage those who are timid and hiding, as a brother in Christ and as a graduate of high school. Hopefully through today’s meeting they were charged up and challenged to be the light of the world. We’re hoping to go back sometime soon, as this was only the first part of lighting up Rangitoto College.

I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before Me in the gap on behalf of the land so that I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.

Ezekiel 22:30

I briefly shared this scripture, in which God is searching for the one person who will stand on behalf of the land they are on. God never changes; He hasn’t given up on our schools or our streets, He is waiting desperately for that one prayer and that one heart which boldly stands before the Lord and seeks His mercy and grace. I challenged these students to be the ones God was unable to find in this chapter of Ezekiel.

I see hope when I see these fellow youths, I truly do. But there are always two sides to the coin aren’t there.

I have been reading about the London riots, where youths are going mad, to put it simple. If we are meant to be much more civilised and happy in this era, why are these things happening? This news triggered a song for the current album, Saint in Blue, a song titled “Riots” in which I write from the perspective of a rioting youth, who has been deprived of love and hope, and exposed to violence and hate. We can’t put all the blame on these kids. I won’t reveal too much of the song just yet, but for now, a line which I think sums up the whole track:

“Look what you’ve sown, all that you’re reaping is riots.”

I think maybe we’re all starting to stir and realise that there are bigger things to pray about than our already comfortable little lives. There is still hope for a Jesus generation, I wish it would rise quickly.