Frustrated

Some days, a lot of days, I get frustrated. I get frustrated with the western world, the western church, the western gospel, my western mindset. I call it the western because that is what it has come to be known.

We sign a few checks to organizations and projects across the world to mark it off our checklist of doing good. But we sign bigger checks to get better cars, bigger houses, cooler lights, nicer screens, comfier pews, trendier clothes, and I’m frustrated. I’m frustrated because of how easy it is to be trapped into that lifestyle. I have a nice car, a good house, name-brand clothes, so much stuff. Me personally.

Just stuff.

Am I sinning?

No of course not.

Could I be stewarding what I have in a better way?

Definitely.

Why have we allowed the Gospel to be something we feel the need to dress up? I get it, that we are in a generation that needs to be reached different. But does that mean we have to put a dollar sign to the Gospel? For it to be effective, do we need to sell it in seminars and conferences and concerts?

When God spoke of freedom for the oppressed and performed miracles, the crowds where innumerable. When the crowd got what they came for, they returned to their lives. Only 12 really stuck around. Only 12 followed. But even those 12 ran off when their lives were threatened.

The Gospel is not popular. The Gospel meant Jesus dying a gruesome death on a cross so that we may have life. Eternal life. His death did not promise us the newest car model. His death did not promise us the nicer house. His death meant our salvation. That is all. We have blessings because He chooses to give them to us.

But I have to constantly remind myself that Jesus blessing me does not end with me. Jesus blesses me so that I can bless others. Have you ever seen the need in other countries? In countries where starving children are as common as birds in the sky.

I get frustrated when I start feeling comfortable at an altar with amazing voices, awesome lights, really cool visuals and a powerful base. Again, not a sin, just blessed.

But then I think of the videos of children singing under a tree in the planes of Africa, or a small gathering of believers praising God in a tiny home in India, or a few people whispering songs in an underground church in China. They know what it means to sing a sacrifice of praise.

What am I sacrificing?

Will we ever live in a world where the orphan and the widow are properly taken care of and the starving child is provided for? It’s heartbreaking to say that no. No, things will only get worse. The book of Revelations tells us that. Prosperity will be for those that take it thinking that’s what they deserve.

I’m frustrated because I can’t put into words exactly how I feel.

I’m frustrated because we make people buy books on how to become better Christians but we won’t give a homeless man money because we assume he will use it on drugs.

I’m frustrated because I’m sitting here in an adorable coffee shop drinking an overpriced chai tea and there are little girls across the world and even in my own home country that are raising their little brothers and sisters on their own with barely enough food to eat, if any.

I’m frustrated because I bought a new game for my switch and there’s a boy who’s just been handed a gun and forced to fight.

I’m frustrated because I have 8 Bibles with really cool covers which I barely read and there’s someone who is risking their life just for owning a few pages of a Bible.

I’m frustrated because I feel so comfortable living like this and it’s only when I see a horrible video of a town being destroyed in Syria or a sad clip of a starving child in Africa that triggers my emotions again to leave all this behind and do something about it.

I wonder if people will even bother reading this whole post. If they will finish to the end. If they will even click on it to begin with. I hope they do.

They’ll probably exit out and continue scrolling through the pictures that have aesthetics, that have cute mugs in cute cafes, or selfies of pretty girls with their new lashes, or crisp shoes fresh out of the store. No, they don’t care about petty rants like these. They just care about making sure their food order comes on time. That their last post gets enough likes. That their popularity will rise so they can be a "better influence".

I’m frustrated because I fall in that trap so easily.

I wonder how frustrated Martin Luther felt when he nailed those 99 theses to the church door and calling out the religious leaders causing him to be burned at the stake.