*Disclaimer: This was written mostly in a state of self-reflection (though I would be lying if I said entirely) and out of sadness. I know that as Christians, we will always struggle in our journey of faith. However, we do live in this broken world, and as a result, can ourselves fall into a state of disrepair. Our hope is in Christ. It always will be; but I have found my heart saddened by the plight of the things in the world. This is not intended as a personal affront to any, however if it is a means of directing someone back into a deeper faith, I do rejoice over that.
Lately, it feels as if I’ve been coming to the realization that I’m not good at being particularly brave where it counts. The fear chokes out the desire to risk, even that which is good and has left, not only myself, but those around me in a state of perpetual self-preservation. This self-preservation however, ironically enough, buffets out all that which is good and retains this false set of beliefs that leave one furrowed in a corner of comfort that slowly collects dust and cobwebs. Without risk, there is no reward, and yet, so many so often, have squandered the opportunity to risk in exchange for the melancholy monotony of self-inflicted victimization.
We live in a culture that flourishes and festers in the mire of ideals gone south. We’re most loud and demanding when it comes to fighting for our own indulgences, what we now mislabel as rights, and almost utterly silent when it comes to inheriting the burdens of our persecuted and forgotten brothers and sisters around the world. Instead of gaining the capacity to see the broken world around us, we take what we know—the very gift of Christ, and selfishly stuff it away into the recesses of our brains for use at our greatest convenience. We’ve Americanized our faith to such a degree; become so ego and ethnocentric that we ignore our neighbors right next door because it’s too “uncomfortable” or “scary” to allow them the grace of being seen as human in our eyes. Surely not something risking one’s peace of mind for. Surely not worth laying our own lives down for. And of course we would never openly verbalize those things; it would be too painful to bear the thought that we had wandered so far, and that our hearts were so hard. Too uncomfortable to note that we maybe neglect to look for the image of God in every single being residing on this earth.
But alas, here I am, and here we are. Destitute, not for lack of resources but destitute remaining in the poverty of our own selfishness, refusing to leave the comfort found in the recesses of our warped and wandering minds. So where do we go from here? We turn our faces back to God. It’s so simple, and often met with so much opposition because it requires that we relinquish our minds in their entirety back to the One who created them. But please, my brother or sister, please come. We need each other to reach in and pull one another from the hollows of these dark and dusty corners.
