a question

[took a coffee exchange min out of my insanely busy day to post a question that comes up more often then you'd probably think. ]

sometimes the issue of the poor gets lost in all the left vs. the right junk in this country. how do you cut through that? serving the poor is not a new message.

the issue is not simply saving the poor — but our saving. when Jesus uses the word hell, he does not use the word with people who are outside the religious establishment or with people who don’t believe the right things.” it is a warning to these “religious people” that they are in danger of hell because of their indifference to the suffering of the world. so the parable of the rich man and lazarus is not so much concerned with painting a picture of what heaven and hell are like. it's a parable to the rich warning them that their apathy has them in danger. danger of a less than abundant, full, loving, jesus-centered life. heaven and hell are present realities that extend into the future.

i think for a lot of americans, this is about the saving of their own soul. recapturing God's heart for the world. otherwise we will end up being people who are marked by our greed, lack of concern, and apathy.

are we a people who are desperate to understand this culture of excessive materialism? we were made to bless the world, right? the original call is that we were blessed to be a blessing. when that blessing gets misconstrued as favoritism you have a very scary thing happening. you get a destructive sense of entitlement that is very much against The Way. are we desperate to give? aren’t we hardwired for it?