Halfway Christians: The World Needs More From You
Jesus showed us a way to live that gave dignity to foreigners and women, He stopped to care for the sick, He shared meals with the social outcasts, He comforted people in sorrow, He spoke out against oppression, He pulled children up from the bottom rung of society and put then on top and said heaven was for them. And then He gave this soul-piercing speech at the end of His life, saying, if you do not follow my example and live this way, then you can never be a part of my kind of kingdom.
I believe what is missing in the spirituality of so many today is a passion for justice, a deep desire to see the world made right — as good and beautiful as God intended. I believe what is needed most in the personal lives of Christians and in our churches today is a turn toward justice.
I am convinced that an inseparable connection between spiritual formation and justice. When we do justice, show compassion, live love ... we grow. Exponentially. In brand new ways.
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Justice is the muscle we exercise to make the relationship stronger. The more your heart beats for justice, the more it beats in rhythm with the heart of God. Conversely, if we neglect justice, then we progressively drift further from intimacy with Him.
There is an aspect, a kind of spiritual formation, that happens only when we go to the most blighted places to be among the most desperate people or break out of our silence to speak up for the discriminated.
When you sit in the pew of an air-conditioned church or on the cozy couch of a living room small group — your soul can only be transformed to a degree; about halfway. Not until you leave the comfort of your sectional and the safe confines of your neighborhood church can God complete the transforming work on your soul. What the soul craves most and needs for ultimate change is to be disturbed, bothered, and broken . . . and then remade.
When you hold an orphaned Haitian toddler in your arms . . . it disturbs your soul.
When you bandage a festering tropical ulcer in the Sapo jungle . . . it disturbs your soul.
When you walk though tear gas choking the streets of a St. Louis suburb . . . it disturbs your soul.
When you sit by the bed of a man dying of AIDS . . . it disturbs your soul.
And then your soul is transformed in brand-new ways.
And then you move past half way and fully become the spiritual person God made you to be.
When you give your life away to become a person for justice ... God changes you. I know this because I have watched it happen so many times, like in the life of a college student — we'll say her name is — Ashley.
Ashley's life was spiraling. Not only was she drinking at parties, now she was hiding alcohol in her bedroom and drinking in solitude. At eighteen she was slipping into alcoholism. On top of this, she had started to experiment with drugs.
Her parents could tell something was desperately wrong with their sweet, happy, always-smiling Ashley. The laughter had died. They discovered bottles of alcohol in her room and threw them out; she just bought more. Finally Ashley agreed to check into rehab. Little changed.
The summer she graduated from High school I stopped her on a Sunday morning and said, "Ashley, you need to come to Africa with us."
Her eyes lit up.
She immediately hit me back with a perky, "I will."
Some on our staff questioned the wisdom of taking a girl who had her own problems all the way to Africa to help a troubled world. But I insisted this was the right decision.
Ashley's enthusiasm was contagious. She poured her heart into the lives of orphans that summer. She spent most of her time just holding the babies. I sensed that for the first time in years she realized her life contained something valuable. She had something worth giving that orphans in Africa craved — love.
Walking the hot tarmac to board the plan home, she turned to me to say, "I'll never be the same."
She hasn't.
It took her years to finish college because she won't stay home anymore, she's busy living as an expatriate in places like South Africa, Australia, and Austria. The desire to fill her body with substances was replaced by a desire for more of God. She filled her life with Him and He filled her heart with new passion and a new desire ... for justice.
1. Proverbs 31:9
2. Isaiah 58:6–7
3. Micah 6:8
4. Amos 5:24
5. Luke 4:18
