If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

It’s easy to burrow into comfort. Go to work. Come home. Tune in. Tune out.

Don’t talk and certainly don’t listen.

But meanwhile, there are those who are hurting all around. And increasingly, I’m having to face my own selfishness.  In my closest circle of friends and family, they’ve seen cancer, divorce, death, suicide, and even murder in the last few months. I’ve heard the deepest pains, the saddest sorrows, the darkest confessions. Too often, I’m sitting on my hands.

It can be overwhelming.

I don’t know how pastors do it. I don’t know how counselors sleep at night. I don’t know those who work with the impoverished move to another day.

And yet, with every person and situation that comes my way, I’m being drawn deeper into the battle. Because that’s where I’m needed.

Matthew West sings a great song called, “Do Something.” In his video, person after person comes into view holding signs while the music plays.

The signs are simple, and yet powerful admonitions.

• Adopt
• Laugh
• Shine
• Stand up for the weak
• Feed the hungry
• Clean water for all
• Love
• Fight for Justice
• Uplift
• Advocate
• Show Christ’s Love
• Comfort
• Rebuild
• Serve
• Plant Seeds of Hope
• Pray
• Heal the Hurting
• Volunteer
• Forgive
• Console the Lost
• Care
• Act
• Stand up
• Love my Neighbor.
• Support.
• Be Kind.
• Serve
• Hug.
• Champion a Cause.
• Encourage.

The lyrics are equally powerful.

He talks about seeing a world for of trouble. “How’d we get so far down and how is it going to turn around?”

He pleads with God. “Do something!”

I hear that a lot. With all the pain and suffering and struggle around us, it seems like God gets an equal amount of blame for causing these troubles and for not fixing them.

West sings, “I shook my fist at Heaven. God, why don’t you do something?”

And the answer comes. “I did. I created you.”

It seems we want someone else to step up, and increasingly I’m wondering if I’m that someone.

“If not us, then who
If not now, then when
It’s time for us to do something

We are the salt of the earth
We are a city on a hill
We’re never gonna change the world
By standing still”