Convincing Convictions

Well recently I’ve been delaying a post quite simply because I have had a lot going on.

Well as per my beautiful alliterate title (not too rare is it?) you will probably figure that God has been convicting me of a few things since I last posted, I think tonight I will cut down the ‘jibber jabber’ and get right to the meat of the issue.

My Study : This so far has been truly great, we have just finished the first segment of discipleship and the most important thing I have learned is that discipleship starts with evangelism, to me this is great. Now I always knew where the bible stood on evangelism but I have never really taken it seriously enough to take into action. This has opened my eyes to the fact of the matter that this is our very obligation and it should be all we live for. Many of us (myself included) think bad things when fronted with that word, we think; Standing on street corners yelling ‘repent repent’ we think of the disgruntled resident who yells ‘stop shoving your religion down my throat’ followed by a nice loud slamming door, we think of the great burden it brings upon us and how sometimes its not worth the struggle. Fact is that most of this is in our head and besides if we are not prepared to suffer for Christ we need to take a serious check on our faith.

World Vision : From previous posts (I think) you will know that I was immensely involved in the 40 hour Famine last year at my school, Well I have just come back from this years Student Leadership Camp (SLC) and have probably taken back more from it than I did last year, the main reason being that last year when I attended as a student rather than a leader I was not expecting at all to be the one organising it last year. So I did not listen as much as should have or could have. For me this has just reminded me once again just how much need there is out there, to hear all the stories, to see all the pictures and to know many more statistics has certified in me that this is one of my callings. I once again feel obliged to do something, not just sponsor a child (as I already am) but to do something big, to travel and work in these countries and to maximise my change in these places of poverty.

Now here stands my two most convincing convictions at the present time.
Firstly I have the choice to further my evangelism and help in saving people to Christ for an eternity. But on the other hand is it right to pursue this and disregard the pure evil that goes on all around the world, with billions of people in poverty, millions with AIDS, millions with no food, shelter, clean water and in some cases no parents. Can I really disregard the fact that 13-15 y/o girls are being enslaved in brothels to make money for some rich business man. Am I really entitled to push aside the fact that every 15 seconds a child, like you and me, will die of starvation or of AIDS or of disease that takes as much as it costs to buy a coffee to help. Can I ignore the strongest feeling of heartbreak I have ever felt when I saw that photo of the child with such a look in her eyes that literally said ‘I have no hope’?

I strongly feel that this will be a massive defining moment in my life as to what I will do for the years to come, I can only pray with confidence and trust that the Lord will guide me along the path he so desires to see me walk. I would just like to emphasise that for me this is BIG, to me this is almost unfair to choose between the two but I know that the Lord provides seasons and times for everything, there will be a time to celebrate, to mourn, to grieve, to evangelise and to spread hope.
But now is the time for prayerful thinking and consideration.