Wringing hands.
It’s an interesting gesture and it has its place from time to time. Yet sometimes I think it’s an excuse to cover up for inactivity. It’s the physical expression to support the verbal chunterings of how ‘things were better when …’ and ‘how things are getting worse and worse’.
There is something about being a follower of Jesus that makes these behaviours unacceptable. No point in just talking and wringing hands. Plenty of people are doing that and offering little more than hot air that changes nothing. It’s been my honour to have witnessed men and women who have done something about it. Motivated others to act through their gifts and character. They have invested their lives in getting among those who are oppressed by various issues of life, associating themselves with them and saying that they are committed to helping them with every breath of their being.
Mentoring at schools, prison visits, volunteering support in hospitals, playing chess at the elderly luncheon club. Offering a word of encouragement. Cleaning toilets where the residents abuse them regularly. Never giving up on people even when others have written them off.
There is something about the good news of Jesus that says the Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven is not about waiting to get in a comfy building on a Sunday to sing songs, hear someone talk for an hour and then forget it thirty minutes later. It’s about all of life with the opportunity, not to wring hands, but get them dirty engaging in the mess of real life, with the love of God endeavouring to uphold the oppressed.
That’s just a thought.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 