So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1-2 MSG
I don’t know about you, but it seems that my entire life focus has been dependent on time. When? How long will it take? Why not now? Why today? Whether it was going to town as an adolescent or traveling to an unfamiliar country as an adult, inevitably the questions arose: When? How long will it take? When the pandemic clearly manifested itself, the same questions began to take shape. During my initial resistance to sheltering in place, the same questions seemed to bounce off the walls. And then something happened. I accepted this time as a gift. I could use this time to read and reflect, to try something new or complete an old lingering project, even use it to provide rest for the body. When and how long had been replaced by allies that poured into me, supported and undergirded an inner strength. And then something happened. George Floyd was slowly but surely killed while handcuffed on the ground being choked by a white police officer as he repeated, “I cant breathe”. There rose within me absolute anger and a flood of sorrowful tears. I didn’t know George Floyd though it felt as though I had known him all my life. Then came an almost immediate adolescent recollection of my big brother’s bloody lip as he emerged from the back room of the local grocer with a white police officer after a failed attempt to steal a candy bar. He should not have tried to steal the candy car. And a bloodied lip at the hands of an officer was not an appropriate response either. When will there be consistent due process instead of justice dispensed at the hands of law enforcement? When will this racism end? How long will this hatred last? Overcome with emotion, questions continue: When…will we learn to love unconditionally?
…will we start to practice mutual respect for each other regardless of race?
…will I courageously step up to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God?
How long….will we briefly speak against injustice, then turn and go on living out our regular routine?
….before we seek justice on behalf of others?
Ecclesiastes 4:1 (NLT) states "Again, I observed all the oppression that takes place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them. The oppressors have great power, and their victims are helpless." Time is a gift and in this season we have the opportunity to reflect and be obedient. Renew your mind through His Word, prayer, and worship. Observe the things that happen in your life after you've prayed, and take action according to His will. For perhaps like Esther you were called "for such a time as this" to alleviate the burden of the oppressed. (Esther 4:14)
Reflection
Has God given you the gift of time in this season? Who are the oppressed among you? Is there anything God is leading you to do to relieve the suffering of the oppressed? How can you take action for their cause?
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for your power and discernment. Forgive me for not seeking you to find my way consistently. Open my eyes so I can see those in need more clearly. Renew my mind that my heart may be transformed to follow Christ. Move in me to respond now. Help me find peace in helping those who are hurting. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
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