The God I Know..

The past year has been a tremendous time of growth for my faith.  Even though I came to Christ at an early age of 12, my faith had never grown past knowing God personally and trying to be a "good person."  It was in the last year of being challenged through my church and people that came into my life that I learned what it really means to follow God and be a Kingdom fighter.  I have always been passionate about justice and it showed in the type of work I did, or the books i read, or the places I volunteered.  But I never pursued those passions as a part of my faith. Now I know that my faith is the very reason I care about the homeless, want to see equal education for our kids, want all workers to have good wages, health insurance, safe work conditions, etc. 

We do not serve a small God.  The God we serve is one who does not compromise.  He demands that we reach for the highest goals and He assures us that He is powerful enough to help us get there.  He also calls us to love and take care of each other.  Our God is a radical God.  He says to feed anyone who is hungry, and if someone asks for our tunic, we should give him our cloak as well.  This is a God that gives us resources, not so we can hoard it for ourselves but so that we can give it away and help others.

If we think that our relationship with God does not extend beyond our personal relationship with God and "being good people," what are we saying about who God is? Do we think He is so small that He wouldn't call us to a bigger and greater purpose? God has an infinite amount of faith in us.  He knows that we have the capacity to not only care about this world, but to make actual changes in our pursuit for justice for everyone.  He doesn't simply hope that we would carry our crosses and follow Him, He commands it. 

We serve an amazing God.  He asks us not just to feed the poor, but to ensure that poverty is eliminated.  He's a God that asks us not just to love our friends and families but our enemies as well.  He asks us to seek after great things and we must ask the same of God.  So we should stand up, put our faith into action, and ask God to change the world through us. The God I know is certainly capable and if we profess to know and serve this great God, then we should never settle for anything less.