stop trying to be fair!!!

this post is about a sermon from andy stanley that i've been meaning to share for awhile now. the sermon is entitled, "one, not everyone." it talks about how many of us struggle with trying to make a difference in this world. yet when we have a chance to really make a difference, we decide against it because if we can't do it for everyone, then we mite as well not even impact ONE person. do you guys know wat i mean?

this is how andy prefaced it: in the old days, you only heard about divorces, natural disasters, poverty, or diseases when it was close to you. your friend's parents got divorced, you drove through a rough part of town, or a tornado struck the town over. these days with all the incredible advancements in technology, we hear about natural disasters (japan) as soon as it hits. divorce is the norm now, monogamy and marriage are actually the ironies.

we become weary and bogged down by all the negativity. we feel like we can't do anything about it. but Galatians 6 says: "let us not become weary of doing good."

we pull away because we can't do anything about it. we ignore it and push it to the back of our minds. we become disengaged.

here's the challenge: "do for one what you wish you could do for everyone."

but isn't that the exact opposite of how we really act and think?!! that's not our mental process?! we think, "well, i can't do this special thing for this particular person, so guess wat? i'm just not going to do it for EVERYONE across the board."

im not a parent yet, but i would imagine that it's easy to default to this kind of thinking with your children. "well your older brother didn't get to join football/karate/basketball when he was your age, so it's not fair and you're not going to get to do it either." your kids end up living in this communist state where everyone is forced to conform and individualism is discouraged. i think it can be fair to say that sometimes it's needed to have uniformity with children. but other times it is equally important to encourage individualism and to make your children feel special.

i guess wat i'm getting at is that life is never fair. God's not fair. don't try to be fair with your time, money, charity, efforts, and ministry. do for one what you wish you could do for EVERYONE. go on! impact that ONE person. touch that one person's life! so wat if you cant do it for the whole world? you've got one person in front of you that God's placed in your path. don't walk away and think to yourself, "well, i can't give my love and time to everyone that's hurting, so i'm not going to give my love and time to this one person."

i don't know. i guess this kind of behavior just irks me. seeing it in myself and other people makes me so angry because you know what? i have one chance to impact someone's life and bring them closer to Christ, yet i would walk away from them because i think to myself that i can't make a difference in this world on a bigger scale?! this kind of futile thinking is wat keeps us from truly affecting this world for change. sigh!

sorry for my rant. it's really been on my heart to share this sermon and my thoughts surrounding it. if you have time please listen to the sermon. i haven't even touched upon wat andy really digs into. he tells a story about jane, a woman he and his wife and other church members invested years and years into and wow, they made a huge impact in her life, but it was her who truly touched their hearts forevermore.



http://www.northpoint.org/messages

God bless and may we all do for ONE what we wish we could do for everyone!!!!!!!!!!

-p