Pastor’s Blog II.III

What are you doing? If you have a little imagination and a tv set you may remember a series of ads a few years ago where fellows with different accents asked that question to each other while talking on the phone.  That is my question for you….what are you doing? Feel free to ask it with whatever accent you want. I am not sure where or when that question first popped into my head but it is a question I find myself wondering about these days.
First let me ask that question in response to Haiti. What are you doing? Seriously…what are you doing? We have seen the single most devastating event to strike in the Western Hemishpere occur in Haiti. We have watched newscasts with visual details that most of us don’t even want to see. Now we are starting to hear first hand accounts of people from our area who have gone down and returned with more details. We know the earthquake wrecked the country. At a recent fundraiser it was estimated that the death toll could reach into the 300,000’s. We know schools have been closed and countless children have been orphaned. We know that right now most of the devastated people are living in temporary shelters. We know there is an ongoing need for food. What are you doing?
What more motivation do we need to do something? We know the need is real. We know organizations that are helping. We know they need cash and manual labour. What are you doing? We know they need prayer….are you praying?
I started the year at Cornerstone talking about Matthew 25 and it is like the Lord will not allow me to forget it or move on. The passage tells us that whatever we have done to the least of these we have done to Jesus. Think about that for a moment.  You give twenty dollars to buy rice to feed a hungry family in Haiti and really what you just did was you ministered to Jesus Christ. Seriously. Why would we choose to not be involved when what we are doing is directly connected to our Saviour?  The smallest thing takes on eternal significance when we do it unto the least of these.  Perhaps best of all is that in the doing of practical things to help the least of these it opens a door to tell them why.  Jesus is the answer to the why.  Jesus is also the answer to their greatest need.

What are you doing?  Attending church?  I don’t see that in Matthew 25 as something that impresses God.  Each one of us who call ourselves Christian has a mandate.  Our mandate is to do something.  Help someone.  Give something.  Pray for some situation.  Do something.  What are you doing?  Seriously…what are you doing?