Hidden Faces

I complain a lot. Just throwing that out there to start this off. And you, as the oh so loyal reader of these rambling that you are, know this. Because I think most of my ranting and raving and general displeasure that brings everyone a solid read starts with my bitching about something.

So as mentioned earlier, Pastor Mark spoke on God's sovereignty. And as all of the God Anthology messages have done, it got me thinking about various aspects of things said. The ideas of God as always faithful, or sovereign, or loving are hard to grasp with the reality that we live in. Bad things happen all the time and bad things happen to good people.

So Pastor Mark talked about all the terrible things we see around us and how we want God to scoop in and take care of things. Because he's God and if he was faithful, loving, and sovereign certain things wouldn't happen. But that's not how things work.

Mark asked the question, how does God take care of those things around? How does God swoop in? And then he said, "What if we started seeing with His (God's) eyes and feeling with His heart? Would we start to care like He cares?

I love that statement. Isn't taking care of people and loving those around us, also how we love God?

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!" ~ Matthew 25:34-40

I don't think it has to be a huge grand gesture. I think it can be as simple as buying someone a cup of coffee, or paying for a meal. And while we need people who adopt children, and go into the mission field full time, or do non-profit social justice work, all of which are awesome, but that doesn't have to be the aim. The aim should be to do what we can and take care of the little things around us to start.

"God is great because nothing is too small for him."