Life can be demanding on a person who listens for God’s guidance on how to live in this mixed up world. You end up saddled with two very difficult questions: How much can I really do? And, how much does God expect me to do?
We all have limitations but we can all do something. Choose something and do something. Some of the world’s injustices will have a personal dimension that leads us to make that our special cause. A mother who has lost a son in the war might make peace her crusade, while a gay man who has known discrimination is inspired to fight for equal treatment under the law.
None of us can do everything but each of us can do something. A very few have a special calling. They simply can’t stand by at all while God’s values are being undermined. They will try to do everything and anything they can in the interest of mercy, compassion and justice, even if it costs their life. Jesus was one of those. He was one of a kind.
But we can and should strive to be as much like Jesus as God makes us able. It’s said that the word “Christian” was first used by the church Paul founded in Antioch. It means “Little Christ.” Perhaps you’ve had the experience of applying Jesus’ words and actions to question a seemingly unchristian reality of our culture, only to have some mainstream “Christian” respond with, “Well, you’re not Jesus.” As if not being able to do all Jesus did, frees us from doing anything. The unfortunate message is, “Go to church on Sunday, confess the name of Christ, and otherwise don’t make waves -- go along with what our secular leaders say. If they weren’t smarter than you, they wouldn’t be our leaders.”
Maybe I‘m wrong, but it seems to me that if the word “Christian” means “little Christ,” and we know Christ was one heck of a wave maker, we should at least be little wave makers, or we shouldn’t call ourselves Christian. Make sense?
Going back to the original questions on how much we really can do as individuals, and how much God expects us to do, John Wesley offers an answer which suggests that if we always keep trying, we‘ll have God‘s approval. Wesley‘s words:
“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
Sorry folks, but in a world like ours, in a culture like ours, there’s little time to rest.
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