It is only until you actually go and experience what the majority of Africa experiences every day; that you would finally understand and realise that society in the OECD nations, both America and Australia included; have it really good. And I mean really good. I myself haven’t been, but I know that before my life ends, I would probably go, and then, my understanding will definitely improve. But as far as I know, just looking at the situation at hand, life in the ‘West’ is truly ‘paradise’. We have a home, a place to always go back to if things get tough. We have a bed to sleep in, food to eat, even a TV and computer, fridge and oven, maybe even a gaming console, a DVD/Blu-Ray player, or even surround sound. We even have the luxury to go and have an education, decide our own path for our future. I know these above sentences sound cliché, but lately I have been realising that for a fair amount of my life, I’ve been taking the things that I’ve lived with for most of my life for granted. Like the food, and the choice of reading material, the films and TV that is at the access of our fingertips. Not to mention the internet. We have access to all the information that we can grab our hands upon.
Just recently during the 1st half of February, the local church that my family goes to participated in Saturate 2012, where over the course of 21 days, we were to fast from something, something that is inside our comfort zone. The purpose of this period was for us to draw closer to the Lord and grow deeper in the relationship we have with Him. Now in the middle of March, Saturate has made me realise that what we have is the Lord’s already, and that we need to be thankful for what we have. I know that I’ve posed this question in an earlier blog post, but, this is really important. The way that the internet has progressed, I really need to ask myself- if the internet was gone, and I mean gone; would I survive. Truthfully; I don’t think that I would. I mean I could, I know that, but…Why? Why am I like this? Has entertainment grabbed a hold of our generation like nothing ever has? We need to snap out of this dependence on things of this world and realise that there is so much injustice in the world and also in the world that we have an influence in. If the Lord wants to shake things up, to grab the attention of myself but also the world around us, and if it’s done by social media and the internet, or if it is done by tearing the internet down, then we need to be cool with it. Jesus did come to shake the world and to turn society on its head. He is not stopping even now, and we need to be ready to hear when the Lord speaks.
Everyone dreams of something that they would love to do, either now or in the years to come. Everyone has one, whether we all realise it or not. It was birthed from before God breathed life into us. And it’ll still be there until we realise what it is that the Lord has placed on our heart for us to accomplish in this world that we live in. Once we realise our passion, let it not define our purpose and when we live to make the Lord famous, our itching will stop and what we have, the material and technological things that are holding us back, won’t anymore and our dreams, the dreams that the Lord planted inside of our being, will see the light of day.
There has been a lyric that has stood out for me recently, relating to our dreams and what happens when what we envisage to be reality isn’t: Sometimes I just wish we could say all the things that are easy to hear, ignore the injustice we see and explain every unanswered prayer. But I’d rather speak honestly and wear a tattered heart on my sleeve, cause in the middle of my broken dreams; redemption is here (from Sanctus Real’s song ‘The Redeemer’). Powerful isn’t it? Doesn’t everyone wish that we can hide from all the disparity that is within this world? Just wish that it could just go away? So that things can be back to what the Lord truly wanted, so that we can go back to ‘Eden’? But we all know as well that we can’t go back. Not until the Lord returns. We can’t ignore what is going around us, and we can’t explain the things that are unexplainable. But that doesn’t mean that the Lord doesn’t know what He is doing when He proclaims that ‘Behold, I am making all things new’ (Revelation 21:5), because that is what He is doing. It may be more painful than we can ever imagine, but nevertheless, it will be necessary in comparison to what glory is before us when Jesus comes again. We must speak honestly, talk to our friends and family; let others know what is in our hearts. Our hopes, dreams, even frustrations about this world and the world to come. We shouldn’t lose hope that our dreams won’t turn out.
Because as the song says, in the middle of everything that has occurred in my life and that will occur, with everything that is not right, God is restoring the broken and lifting up the weary. Redemption is coming, and we need to be ready for the Lord to shake the things that we are the most comfortable inside; disturb us in any way the He wants so that we can truly understand what He is doing both now and in the years to come. God is making all things new, and regardless of whether technology will be part of the future or not shouldn’t matter. What matters is our relationship with God. And beyond that, the Lord will ultimately use our dreams as tools to further His kingdom and His renown over the earth. We mustn’t give up on what we want to do in our lives. God will use it in ways that we may not expect.
Until next post.
Jon.
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