There are times when you are in certain crowds, certain rooms, even in church, when words of wisdom are delievered, and you check the temperature of the room, and there’s an awareness that the words are going over the majority’s heads. It’s like the farmer is throwing valuable seed onto the field, and truly, some are falling on good ground, some are falling on rocky places, and some are falling on shallow ground.
I think when people are challenged to look inward and be the solution to the problems that they see, or are possibly causing; that is, are challenged to be responsible and take responsibility, you see the true nature of a person’s heart. Outside of feeling apprehensive, or fearful, or intimidated at starting or doing something, I think these challenges separate those who have hope for a better future, and those determined to kill that hope; those who want to better themselves for the better of their community, and those who do so at the expense of it.
Life often makes us cynical, especially when decades or years have gone by and there doesn’t seem to be a solution to life problems. Or that the problems have been tackled by this person or that organization and money has been funneled and raised, and this and that, and there’s no fruit. But one thing I’m learning as I grow older is that there are some people who plant the seed, others come and water the seed, but God makes it grow. You don’t know when that growth will take place. And sometimes, things that are planted need to be replanted because they were planted incorrectly. In any case, what it’s teaching me is that there are those who come and lay the foundation, and there are those who will come and build upon the foundation, erecting the edifices that we have been dreaming of, praying for, investing for.
It is a process. And when you avoid process, you make a 12-day journey into a forty-year expedition. You think you’re wise or fast tracking, but you’re taking the long road to something that not only will you fumble and potentially destroy, but you’re going to have to start all over again. Because you tried to avoid a process.
But I digress.
There is a solution to every human problem that we are experiencing. There is a solution even to the individual problems that we are experiencing. Today I was reminded to take responsibility, and to sit and think about what it is that I can do to solve issues that are around me.
There is a verse in Mark 6, where Jesus tells his disciples that they ought to separate themselves into the mountains as they hadn’t been able to rest or eat due to the crowds. But as they did so, “the crowds of people ran ahead of them, and gathered, waiting on them. And Jesus was moved with compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things” (v32-34).
In another place, Matthew 9:35-38, Jesus notes that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Why does he say that they are sheep without a shepherd? There’s no guidance, there’s no leadership, there’s no stewardship, no discipline. Everyone’s scattered and lost and groping in the dark. We want answers, and security, and a life with dignity, but how to attain that. Who is leading us to that? Who do you follow?
There was a plea that when you find solutions, the goal is to help everyone so that none are left behind. Perhaps that can be the intention, but I also know that it’s not everyone who is offered help that wants it. Solving problems means you may have to make sacrifices, be uncomfortable for a season, make changes, and it’s not everyone that wants that. It’s why when offered a solution we often begin to take it apart and begin to tailor it to our comfort, destroying what was originally intended. And we do it with everything. The Word of God is not even an exception.
All I know is, you can’t save everyone, because it’s not everyone that wants to be saved. But to those who sincerely want a change, they’ll take hold of it, and go through the process and be refined by it, so that they too can arise to change someone else’s life.
