God has really been kicking my butt about how comfortable I
am. God has kept reminding me lately of 1 John 3:17-19 which says this: If
anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on
him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with
words or tongue but with actions and in truth. Pretty intense huh??? Yea that’s
what I thought.... After reading these verses I began to wonder if they
describe me... You probably know what the answer was. Yes. So this is kinda
what God has been putting on my heart: Let me start with what I already know -
I am blessed. Materially. Spiritually. and Relationally. What do I do with
these blessings? I relax in them. I sit back and say "Life is great."
So knowing these two truths obviously raises some problems in accordance to
these verses. Here is the problem - I push what I know is true out of my mind
in order to fully enjoy what God has given me. This truth I neglect is that
around the world people are suffering uncontrollably and I sit within American
soil and say all is good. Why!? I am called as a child of God to love the world
as Jesus did. So is my apathy here in the states doing just that? I would say
no. Do I have "pity" on the hurting. To an extent yes but do I
accomplish the second part of the verse by loving with actions and truth? Most
the time not! You see this is what I'm boiling it down to: My relationship with
Christ Jesus should be intimate and real enough to propel me to the action of loving
people in need even if I don’t know or even see them.  I should be so in
touch with God’s heart to be moved by what makes him hurt. I know that God
hurts for the his children that are hurting here. He also hurts for Christians
that miss what joy and passion comes from helping our hurting brothers and
sisters. So I ask myself. Am I in touch with God’s heart so much that I will
stop at nothing to fulfill his wills and passions and feel his hurt??? If not I
should be striving at all cost to grow our relationship in a way that that
describes me. We as Christians are called to seek God no matter what the cost!
Do we live according to that calling? Do we abandon all for the love of God? Do
we have pity on the hurting of this world we so often ignore? I confess to you
I have lacked in all of these. What is God telling you?