Realizations of the Self-Obsessed

A lot of us get disillusioned with the Church because it fails to give what we desire. We feel that if something isn't meeting our need or measuring up to our concept of what the Church should be, then it's fine to jump ship or taper off our commitment. I'll be the first to admit this mentality. Having grown up steeped in "Christian World", at some point I wanted out. Christian living, community life and rule-abiding weren't holding up to their end of the bargain, that if I mentally agreed to particular tenets about God, He'd give me everything I wanted. I was dying spiritually.

But I came alive when I offered myself in service. When I stopped focusing on what I could get out of the deal and focused on what I could give unconditionally. The problem wasn't that I wasn't getting anything out of the Church; it was that I wasn't giving of myself to the world through the Church. It turns out that receiving isn't what makes you live; it's giving.

Once, I was listening to a radio interview with Joel Houston from Hillsong United. He made a point that people get into the Church because they get something out of it. But we should be focused on what we can offer in service. Today, I was reading an article by Shane Claiborne, proponent of new monasticism and founder of The Simple Way. He said, "God didn’t create a world of scarcity. But we’ve created poverty and need by not living out this command to love our neighbor as ourself."

One key point I want to make is that we recognize the world is in need, but we are still more obsessed with receiving than giving. It doesn't make sense, because we have so much to give.

Last night at Elim Singles, Barbie made a beautiful point that the world is at its best when people give; it is at its worst when people don't. That statement reaches deep -- into poverty, economics, justice and the most simple of human relationships. And it's not just about giving money. If we really cared about the world's need -- the need for God, for justice, for peace -- we would quit whining about problems and just get out there and offer ourselves in service. It's not complicated.

Firebrand preacher Jentezen Franklin once said that the Gospel is simple: find the hurt and heal it. Furthermore, Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker Movement said, “The best thing to do with the best things of life is to give them away.”

I know these are largely random points on the idea of giving, and not a well-made argument or anything. But let's quit making alibis. Stop focusing on our needs. We probably have all we need. And if not, the pursuit of God assures that our needs will be met. But let's get that point straight: the pursuit of God and His will is manifest in how we serve others, in how we give of ourselves.

So, as young Christians with so much to give, let's look at the world and see what we can give, thinking less on what we can get out of things.