National Adoption Month
After being away from Haiti for so long and focusing primarily on fundraising and decision making for All Things New, I realized that I can have a tendency to forget the most important thing we that we do...Take care of kids...Protect children.
One thing that I (Matt) have always been passionate about, from youth ministry to running an orphanage to teaching to pastoring is being there for and standing up for people who cannot stand for themselves.
I realized that the main reason I am so passionate about this is because I am this. I was more than helpless and weak, I was dead in my sin, but GOD made me alive in Christ.
If you are a follower of Christ, it is the one thing. Jesus' death saves us, and in that act, we became sons and daughters of God.
"Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God." - John 1:12-13
GOD chose us. In an amazing way.
Today, we all have the ability to choose as well. We can choose to either step up and take care of the people in the world who most need us, or we can bury our heads in the sand and pretend like everything is good.
Orphans, unborn children, widows, trafficked children, those stuck in abject poverty, people who are begging for help and dying without simple goods/services that we take for granted each day...We are called to these more than we are called to a nice house, a cool car, or a big retirement account.
Honestly, it is hard to think about those things while I am here. In Haiti, the needs are in your face. In America, it is very easy to get so focused on small, unimportant issues and tasks that the big issues disappear before our very eyes.
Social events, television, vacations, sporting events, kids' activities, phones, work, and many other things creep into our lives and we begin to forget about the things that should never leave our mind. Here is my plea (partly for myself and partly for anyone reading this):
- Don't Forget!
One of the ways we can be most like Jesus is by standing up for, taking care of, and protecting those who cannot do that for themselves. This should fulfill us, it should motivate us, and it should shake us to our souls when we are not doing it!
National Adoption Month is a great time to remember. You were adopted by GOD into His family...LIVE LIKE IT! Imitate it. Make this what marks your life. That you love the broken-hearted, you help set the captive free, and you take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the poor.