Trust & Obey, Week 3: Luke 6, Part 5
I teach English language development classes in my community. In a recent class, the curriculum included a story about a family who immigrated to the US, worked hard, and opened a restaurant, because they wanted their son to experience the American Dream. Around the table in my classroom, each of the people there essentially had the same story.
Then one of them looked at me and asked, “You grew up in the USA, you don’t have an American Dream, do you?” They assumed that the American Dream was only for immigrants. I responded that I grew up with the idea of an American Dream too. I tried to explain to them the idea of a white picket fence and 2.5 kids, but that was didn’t translate well. Instead, I told them about how for generations of Americans, the American Dream is to have a life that is more comfortable than your parents. I grew up with that.
But then I said I don’t agree with that anymore. Because of Jesus. I now try to follow his ways. Following the way of Jesus is decidedly different, and sometimes opposite, from the American Dream. Through our posts this week, we have seen how differently Jesus views the world, in his blesseds and woes. Instead of looking down on the poor, the hungry, the sick, the needy, the prisoner, we see them as blessed, just like he did. With that new viewpoint, we followers of Jesus pursue his way of selfless sacrifice.
We serve, help, give, mentor, love, so the oppressed and suffering might experience Jesus’ love. This is why my church supports CVCCS and SEEDS. This is why there is a giving tree in our church lobby for SEEDS, where people in our church can select an ornament on the tree, and the ornament lists the age, gender, and interests of a child from our community living in a hotel. In our lobby we also have a CVCCS donation table, where our people can drop off items for the clothing and food banks.
This week, the director of CVCCS sent an email to the ministerium informing us about a local family that was going to lose their home, asking if local churches could help. The ministerium decided to give $500 of ministerium funds, to which Faith Church makes a contribution each year. SEEDS gave $500. Then some individual churches gave as well. It was a beautiful act of flourishing-producing togetherness.
How are you viewing life? Do you need to have more of the upside-down view of Jesus? What might it look like for you to live differently as a result of that upside-down view?
I titled this blog series Trust and Obey. When we trust in Jesus, we will see the world the way he sees it, which is often upside-down from the prevailing cultural view in our day. When we trust in Jesus we see the blessed and woes as he did. And when we trust, we then obey, and we love like he did.
Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash
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