I found this graphic on Tumblr recently. And I'm sort of in love with it, even though it's awful and shows just how terrible the world actually is.
Sometimes, it's so easy to fall into a pattern of life, where nothing matters but my relatively easy, blissful existence. Then I go to Africa, where people don't have even 1/4 of the things I consider necessary for life--they're thankful for the bare bones, the food they get, the clothes they wear, the roof over their heads. And they're happy with it. My American mind can't wrap itself around that.
Or I go to someplace like China, where it's difficult to be a Christian. (Speaking of which, I got a new shirt for my birthday: it says "This shirt is illegal in 51 countries" on it. And I'm quite pleased with it.) And I realize just how fortunate I actually am. Today in church we had a missionary to Turkey who preached. He talked about how the people there are Muslim because they've never heard the Gospel. For real--literally none of them have ever heard the Gospel. They simply don't know that there's any other way to live life!
I mean, to think that I could have so easily been born somewhere else, where life could have been so radically different because of some random genetic accident...it's amazing. But here I am, having heard the Gospel, having chosen to accept Christ, having Him in my heart and my life, being free...and all for a purpose. I firmly believe that. And I also believe that my purpose has something to do with all those problems that are in that graphic up there.
This world has a caste system. That system is so firmly entrenched that it's virtually impossible to even jostle it. I don't know how to move it one fraction. I don't know if it's even really possible. But one thing I do know, and that is that two men turned the world upside down in Acts. They had an entire nation who knew exactly what they stood for because of one simple belief they held --that there was Someone who loved them, who died for them. Who loved me. Who died for me.
And in the end, the one thing that can cure any spiritual ailment, the one thing that can lift anyone up above what they were born into, is Jesus Christ. It's the Gospel. Simple as that. And that is my life calling.
爱於耶穌,
~Liberty (紫涵)
爱於耶穌,
~Liberty (紫涵)
4 comments:
you are my hero- seriously.
Aw, thank you. I don't think I deserve that much regard--I make far too many mistakes--but thanks anyway! :D
I found this interesting but ironic in that "equality" is right in the middle of the former Soviet Union. Equality is nonexistent there. We recently had a young Russian couple join our church. After having them over for dinner and talking about the differences in our countries my husband and I were even more thankful we live in the united States of America. It was blatantly obvious that equality, for Christians especially, is not encouraged in Russia.
True, Jen. I think that might be partly what this graphic is pointing out: the equality is only pretended, a show for those who don't know better.
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