What God has led me to is a wake-up call, and has brought out a lot of questions. I blogged about some of this in a previous post entitled Learning about a Radical Life in My Home Mission Field. The journey has continued, and I keep going in a direction I didn't expect.
My blog's name is My Home Mission Field. During a visit one Sunday a couple of years by a touring missionary, she made a statement that I connected with deeply. She said that, while serving overseas, she noticed that even in an area where following Christ could mean death, the Christians were desperate to see their families saved and going to heaven. She figured that, with the threat of persecution, these Christians would have a harder time witnessing to loved ones. Instead, just the opposite happened. True believers knew that their families trusting in Christ could lead to their physical deaths, but they would have eternal life with Christ in Heaven. The missionary talked about how we are all missionaries, even if we aren't in a foreign land, and the first people we should serve and witness to would be our own families.
Realizing that we are all missionaries, I renamed my blog. What began as one purpose is slowly being led into other areas. Missions have fascinated me and more than one of my daughters. As a family, we have discussed taking some short-term missions trips. We want to serve. We serve monthly at a Food Pantry, watching as those that need food the most receive some help. Many of those we give food to are elderly who, near the end of the month, have run out of money and food.
In reading about Christians and missionaries that serve in other places, I am in pure awe of the amazing, miraculous stories and the deep hunger for God. This hunger is especially prevalent in lands where Christ has never been preached, or in places where there is intense persecution for following Christ. When I realized this, I began to question why, here in the United States, that hunger seems to be so rare. I question why we have books published that discuss why young people are walking away from Christ in droves in the States, such as Already Gone by Ken Ham, when in China the statistics, while disputed, are as high as 80 million Protestant Christians.
Ken Ham talks about many of the reasons why our youth is leaving church in Already Gone, and I agree with him... for the most part. I believe that not teaching apologetics to our children and youth, when they are faced with a humanistic, secular education in public and many private schools, is a huge factor in the exodus from our churches. But, I also believe there is more to it than that. In many nations around the world, children are taught from communist schools or Muslim schools. Still, despite their education, those countries are seeing a huge rise in Christian growth. There is a huge growth when it is illegal to teach children about Christ. There is growth where it is illegal to preach Christ to anyone. There is growth in countries that are so poor that decent food and clean water is a challenge to receive. There is growth in countries where the main religion is one that isn't very tolerant of Christianity.
There is a hunger in many areas where the people are spiritually anemic, whether that anemia is caused by persecution or ignorance or poverty or a mixture. What I notice is that, here in the U.S. and other places, such as Europe, we are full.
I have freedom of religion. I can homeschool my children and teach them about Christ. I can turn on my television and see evangelist from every denomination educating me about doctrine and the Bible. If I don't want to watch, I can turn on whatever I wish. I can read what I wish. I can fill my brain with whatever books I desire. I can turn on my radio and listen to whatever tickles my fancy at the moment. If I want something with a sexy beat, it is there. If I want something that lifts me up and is Christ-honoring, I have that choice too. If I have the inclination to, I can turn on my computer and have instant access to X-rated materials. It is my right as a United States citizen.
Why are we not hungry in America? Because we are already full. When that spiritual hunger hits, we can fill it with many other things. Of course, it is only a temporary fix. The hunger for Christ can never be filled by substitutes that leave us only hungering for more. Yet, more is always available. We take things that are not bad, such as work, family, and education, and use them to fill the hunger. We follow other religions that deny Christ and His power, such as humanism or atheism, and hope that it will fill us. We are rarely lacking in entertainment of some sort.
And if, by chance, we do believe in Christ and want to give our lives to Him, we are easily distracted by all those things that are easily available. We have our computers, our televisions, our expensive toys, our sports... and we are too BUSY for Christ. We even have our church activities and ministry to distract us from time in God's Word (Bible) and talking with Him (prayer).
I am grateful for the freedoms we have here in America. I am thankful for the blessings and prosperity we have. And yet, Christians in other lands talk about how grateful they are that they don't have to face the same the challenges that American Christians have to face. How are our challenges different? Well, for one thing, as David Kinnaman noted in his book unChristian, Christians in America have an image problem. In some other countries, Christianity may be a threat to political or religious rule, the threat in America is that many don't desire freedom of religion, but freedom from religion... especially Christianity. Other religions seem to be fine.
With all that we have available to fill us, are we showing the world Christ the way He intends? Are we showing love? Are we generous? Are we giving to others? Or are we thinking of only ourselves? When our rights are trampled, do we go around and tell everyone how they were trampled? Or do we pray for those that persecuted us and reach out in love anyway? Do we forgive? Are we reaching out to Christians in other lands with whatever blessings we have, or are we keeping for ourselves because we expect certain standards of living and freedoms are owed to us just because we are American?
Lots of questions have formed in my heart. I plan to find some answers. I don't want to be too full to hunger for Christ!
1 comment:
I don't remember how I found your blog. I think I may have just been searching for home school blogs. I love your thoughts and it is exactly what I have been thinking about my children, their education and the constant pull to all of our entertainment devices. We have so much but we are more unhappy than many of the Christians who are serving on the front lines. The missionaries lives are full of challenges but they see the bigger picture. We are just a "clot of ailments" (I think that quote was from my Breaking Free, Beth Moore Bible Study).
I've also been thinking about how and why and when I spend my money. I so often just buy these cheap toys that I know will not last 24 hrs, just to keep the kids from bugging me about getting something new or to keep them busy so I can get something more important done.
I've read about several families who took a year, or sometimes less to fast from all of our consumerism. I tried it for 30 days and it was enlightening. I did not buy anything for 30 days, unless it was absolutely needed or a consumable, like food or cleaning supplies. This fast from spending helped me see how in my mind I was always focusing on what I would buy next. A favorite pastime...but then when I bought that "precious" thing, I just wanted something else. By waiting 30 days to buy anything of my wants, I found by then I hardy even remembered what I was thinking about buying.
Great Blog! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm excited to see what the future holds for our children and the time to teach them is now!
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