December 5, 2012
...Then I Am Nothing
There are days when I love what I do and adore those I do it with.
And then there are days when I want to strangle people. The very people I came to minister to. I want to warn, “Keep your motorcycle in a lane and stop weaving in and out of cars, then wondering why someone hit you.”
I want to say that it’s not cool to shove your way past a woman pushing the buggy that holds her cane and her groceries with one hand while balancing a bag of produce in the other hand, which happens to be in a cast, just so you can get your carrots weighed 2 seconds before you would have anyway.
I want to scream, “I’m taking a beating here, I’m suffering. I could be kickin' back in the a/c watching cable, woofing down Krispy Kremes, and planning to see my competent doctor in his clean office tomorrow for a routine check-up that doesn’t involve strange bacteria or negligence.
I want to ask why the same people who would give you the last piece of food or kill their only chicken to offer a meal if you drop by unexpectedly, would also steal or lie to you in a heartbeat if it gave them some advantage.
And sometimes I DO say those things, usually with a smile on my face and an Are you serious? tone.
Then I remember whom I represent.
Then I remember whom I represent.
I am an Ambassador, here in the name of the Ruler of the greatest kingdom ever, one who came Himself and found craziness and hostility in the same people he wanted to help. One who left a paradise that cable tv and doughnuts can’t even begin to compare to, to live in a place full of sin and sinners and sickness and self.
So I ask the Lord to help me fall in love with these people every morning, to wake up eager to see them, eager to let them know about the One I call Lord, the kingdom where they can become citizens.
Because you know what? I can teach them an unknown tongue (“Wanna learn English?”), I can predict their future (“You’re gonna bust your head open if you don’t wear a helmet!”), I can meet their physical needs (“Blankets, anyone?”), I can sacrifice my body (Have you seen me lately?), but at the end of the day, if I don’t love them, I am nothing. (I Corinthians 13:1-3, very loose translation)
TRANSLATION:
1. You were broken, oh Jesus, for my rebellion.
You rose again, now I can live and be born again.
Oh how much you loved this world, God!
How much I want to thank you!
Glory! Glory in the highest!
Glory in the highest! Glory to the King
Glory! Glory to you my Christ
Your name I’ll always lift high.
2. You conquered the sinful world with your great love
Now the Father has exalted you to the most high place
Oh how much you loved this world, God!
How much I want to thank you!
Glory! Glory in the highest!
Glory in the highest! Glory to the King
Glory! Glory to you my Christ
Your name I’ll always lift high.
/////Worthy, only You are worthy,
Only You are worthy, only You are God/////
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Beautiful. Glad I'm not the only one and thanks for the reminder about being an ambassador.
ReplyDeleteDjibouti, thanks for stopping by. I have to remind myself often that I'm an ambassador, else I get all in "Christie World"--not a pretty place to be!
DeleteChristie; you are having a great expierance,you really did not have to travel so far to find those people you adore so much,the ones you are speaking of i find them all over the place here where i live too.I want you to look up the lyricks to It a hard rain gona come,by bob dylon ,study the lyrics and see what kinda of message you get out of that ,and thats from the 60s i think,and ask yourself who he is talking to.i think youll get a message from that.Uncle Dan. I love ya and life is hard every where you go.people are crule to eachouther,it seems to be in there nature,amd its a shame.It would be good as in anouther message sent out by anouther man ,who was shot for no good reason.he spoke of of a brotherhood of man and the world would be as one.I think some day ,but not in our life time ,the world will come together and there will be peace,and no more hunger,and the world will live as one.Its in the future,and it will happen some day,just gota go out and make it happen.it will happen.
ReplyDeleteUncle Danny, I listened to this song and downloaded the lyrics today for the first time. Wow. What an inspired song! Sad, heavy, but wow. Good stuff. I'm glad he put that last verse in there about going back into the darkness to do what he could about it.
DeleteI love your honesty!
ReplyDeleteWendy, I'm glad I didn't scare you into running in a corner. ;) I tend to do that sometimes...
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ReplyDeleteYes and yes...I decided to pick up Let the Nations Be Glad (which I'm a little embarrassed to say that I've never read before) and there was a little in there on this topic. Piper quotes a YWAM leader: "Don't wait for a feeling of love in order to share Christ with a stranger. You already love your Heavenly Father, and you know that this stranger is created by Him, but separated from Him, so take those first steps in evangelism because you love God. It is not primarily out of a compassion for humanity that we share our faith or pray for the lost; it is first of all, love for God." Piper goes on to say "...the motive of compassion and the motive of zeal for the glory of God are not separate. The weeping of compassion [for a people] is the weeping of joy in God impeded in the extension of itself to another."
ReplyDeleteAll that to say, I'm there, too, most days. And, I'm thankful that, when I honestly don't at all like who we work with, we can be satisfied in who we work for and know that we are working for the glory of His name. Thanks for your honesty, Christie.
"...when I honestly don't at all like who we work with, we can be satisfied in who we work for and know that we are working for the glory of His name. " Well said, my friend.
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ReplyDeleteI believe that everything happens has a purpose. God might let it happened because he have a great plan. Like us, my father has a brain tumor now, but I believe in God that he will make a way when there seems to be no way. Thanks for sharing your experience. Really great. God bless! :)
ReplyDeleteBible Teaching Church in Oakville
You are right, Hayley Nicole, that God can use everything for His plan, His purpose. I am saying a prayer for your dad right now. Thanks for stopping by!
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