We live in a world that seems to tout the Burger King-
'Have it your way!' where instead as Christians we should
be saying "What would Jesus Do?" and living
the Jesus way NOT our way.
Is the way we live congruent with what we say and believe?
Are we saying one thing but living something different?
How many people can honestly say their actions follow
what they say?
1 John 3:18 "Dear Children, let us love, not
with words or tongue, but with actions and truth."
About 2 weeks ago I received a letter from The big DR
also known as David Radcliff reviewing topics that were
discussed while at Christian Citizenship Seminar, CCS
for short, in early May. David spoke the first night
at CCS about how he was giving up wearing ties because
he feels that ties are a symbol of power and higher authority.
As a little update about his tie-free pledge he wrote
that he did not wear a tie the Sunday following CCS when
he spoke to a congregation in Virginia. This small change
may go unnoticed and not understood by many, but it is
still an act of love.
David's tie-free pledge seemed small compared to an
article he read in the paper when he got home. A man
in South Africa has refused to use AIDS drugs that are
available to him until these same drugs are widely available-and
affordable-to the millions of others in that country
with AIDS, but who cannot afford treatment. In his letter
David says, "My small act of giving up my tie seemed
small indeed in comparison with this act of solidarity."
In Luke 23:9 it states, "If anyone wants to
come with me he must forget himself, take up his
cross daily
and follow me." This man from South Africa is clearly
taking up his cross everyday to show his love for his
fellow brothers and sisters in action not in words. True
this man could go around talking about AIDS and all the
people that are in need of treatment but instead he chose
to do as Jesus would have done.
James 2:14-18 says, "What good is it, my brothers,
if a man claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can
such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without
clothes or daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go,
I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing
about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same
way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action,
is dead, But someone will say, 'You have faith, I have
deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds and I will show
you my faith by what I do."
We say that we love God, and that we love our neighbor,
but saying that we love isn't enough - that's not what
God is after. We have to prove it. Our actions, not our
words, are the true indicators of our love. It is only
by our actions that our love can be accurately measured.
To love God, we must live for him. We need to be more
like Jesus and show our love and reach out for out brothers
and sisters when they are in need.
Teenagers are always having to prove themselves in this
society. We are constantly watched and judged by the
older generations because many feel teens are always
up to no good. If only they could have seen the actions
of a group of young people from across the nation joined
together for a week of fun and learning, this group of
young people being the 100 youth and their advisors who
gathered together at CCS.
At the United Nations gift shop a friend of mine was
looking at items on the bottom shelf and took one small
step back to let someone through and in the process knocked
over a 750 dollar vase. She was told she had to pay for
half of that amount making the total still more than
she could afford. Our very own John Berkebile came to
the rescue taking care of all costs for the vase. The
next night while at worship two youth asked everyone
to give $3.75 or as much as they could to help reimburse
John. That night we raised almost $200!
The last day broken pieces of the vase were set out
at a table in the front during closing worship along
with 4 glasses to put donations in. Everyone was then
invited to come forward with any more offering they would
like to contribute and also pick out a piece of the broken
vase to take home with them. There was over $400 given
total, and when presenting the money to John, he refused
to accept any of it. Instead all of the money raised
was given to the Global Food Crisis Fund.
Many believed that God planned this incident to take
place to see how we would respond to a sister in need.
Have you ever heard the saying "live and let live"?
We clearly did not live up to that saying that week.
Instead of ignoring the fact that one of our sisters
was in need of help and letting her live we joined together
to lend a hand. Earlier in the week I was talking with
someone and he believed that we should not have helped
her pay for this accident and that she should take responsibilities
for her own actions. I then thought, "How can a
person be so selfish?"
1 John 3:17 asks us, "How does God's love
abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees
a brother
or sister in need and yet refuses to help?"
