Deliver those who are being taken away to death!
And those who are staggering to slaughter! Oh hold them back!!! | Proverbs 24:11
“Wrecked again.” This could have come after a trip to Bulgaria, or a conference, or sitting across the table from someone who has experienced the horrors of trafficking first hand. It’s like someone dissected our heart, found the deepest corner that cries for the blood & tears of our brothers & sisters, & marked it with caution tape so we’d remember it’s location. But somehow the to-do list beckons us away from that crime scene. Stresses & worries that have to do with our lives & our priorities take us on a long leisurely walk away. Far away from the outlines drawn around the bodies & real human bloodstains in that taped-off corner. Thinking more about ourselves & our lives doesn’t make their pain cease to exist any more than pulling covers over our heads makes the darkness disappear. We’ve all experienced this slow drain of passion. How do we cultivate a consistent, daily desire for justice & rescue? A passion that isn’t numbed by comfort or muted by daily tasks?
Hunt down the truth. Human trafficking, orphans, widows, shrapnel-hit-hearts are all around us. In other countries & in our own city. We must take a crash course on what exactly is going on, where it is happening, & who we can join that is already fighting. Books, internet, documentaries, events. What makes you take the time to gather knowledge? A coffee meeting with someone who knows, or time penciled on your calendar to read a book? Whatever it is, do it!
Choose your battleground. I am one. I can’t rescue the sex slaves and the child soldiers and the labor victims. As much as I’d like to think my limpid eyes can span the globe breaking chains with their dazzling light, I’m not a super hero. I had to decide which group of precious people had my heart. Sex trafficking makes me want to rend my own flesh more than anything. Done. Where? 80% of Europe’s sex trade victims come from Bulgaria. That is unacceptable. There must be real wreckage in the mindsets, economy & beating-flesh-hearts of that country. This is where I will fight. What territory has God marked for your heart?
Wreck your world. God wants us to live an abundant life, & that includes enjoying blessings He douses our lives. Blessings like relishing moments we can lie in the grass & breathe in beauty as sunlight particles dissolve into our skin. But those moments are gifts along the way, not things we should be spending most of our time & effort to acquire. He will see that we have rest & refreshment because He’s crazy about us. But our purpose is not to hunt for those moments, rather, to fight for those who don’t even know what those moments look like. Those who have never felt a flower stem between their fingertips or laid in the shade while someone reads them poetry, because all they’ve ever known is four dull grey walls and the string of men that flow endlessly in & out of their room & their body. Our lifestyle must become the glorious wreckage of what it once was. We’ve run aground on reality & we can’t take all those pointless extras with us. The blueprints God has given us don’t include schematics for the “American Dream.”
Hone our gifts. Who are you? An actor? A businessman? A speaker? An artist? An author? A counselor? You didn’t create those gifts & passions, God did. But He’s asked us to focus our gifts & passions on two things, & two things only: Love God. Love people. Anything in our lives that doesn’t fall into those categories will only dilute our dedication to them.
Most of all, above all, hunt His heart & grab a hold until your heartbeat can’t help but drum out it’s rhythm. Believe me, when you experience the vivid sunset-pulse of His love tailored to your heart, nothing will stifle the desire to connect others with that same, extravagant, life-surging love & freedom. Fighting for them may simply begin by taking steps to cultivate the passion in your own heart.
