The Emancipation

Today is Shine a Light on Slavery Day. The End It movement website posted this encouraging charge: "Let’s be the generation to stand up for the 27 million men, women and children trapped in slavery around the world today. In brothels. In factories. In mines. On street corners. In homes. In the shadows, hidden. Yet out in broad daylight, in plain sight here in America. Stand with us. Raise your voice. Use your influence. Join the fight for FREEDOM."

That's awesome, and what an incredible cause! However, I can't help but stop and think about the other kind of slavery that we are experiencing in our world today. There are 27 million people trapped in physical slavery, but there are 4 billion bound up in darkness. 

Statistics show that there are 4 billion people on this earth who have either never surrendered their lives to, nor ever even heard about Jesus Christ. That is 4 billion people who know not of the reason they were created. That is 4 billion people who have no hope for a future. That is 4 billion people who are lost in darkness. That is 4 billion people who Jesus laid down his life for.

Our job as believers is to be the statistic changers. The charge that has been given to each one of us is to share with the world the truth of who God is in our lives; to share with the world the hope that burns on the inside of us. There are lost people in the jungles of South America; there are hopeless people on the plains of Africa; there are even people living in darkness on the streets of East Texas. Our job as believers is to be the emancipators. 

It is crucial that we understand that slavery to sin knows no borders-- it is not considerate of cultures. Therefore, it is crucial that we understand that the Gospel knows no borders-- neither is it considerate of cultures. The Gospel is for the world, therefore we must be for the world. We must listen for God's direction for our lives and then respond to that direction no matter where it may lead us. We must be as content to serve in the White House as we would be to serve in the dumps of Ethiopia. Our job is not to be the critic of where God sends us. It is simply to find out where that place is and then to pour out our lives for the people there. 

There are people in chains waiting to be set free on the other side of your obedience.

That Time Spanish Made Me Cry

If you know me at all, you know that I'm a crier. If you don't know me, Hello. My name is Alexis, and it has been zero days since the last time that I cried. What can I say? Things effect me. Show me the Procter & Gamble "Thank You Mom" commercial from the 2012 Olympics or Jeep's tribute to our troops from this year's Superbowl and expect waterworks.  As active as my tear ducts may be, however, I don't usually burst into tears in the middle of Spanish 204 as I did today. It's not what you might think. Yes, Spanish 204 is ridiculously hard and frustrating, but I wasn't crying because I was having a hard time understanding the lesson, or because no teacher should be allowed to assign the amount of work that we received today.

My teacher loves to talk about Spain and she loves to pass around pictures from her time there. Today, she passed around a book about the different monuments and landmarks that draw travelers from around the globe. As I was sitting at my desk, slowly browsing through page after page of beautiful photos of one of the mosques in Córdoba, I was amazed at the time and effort put into the architecture. The thought almost immediately crossed my mind, "How sad that all that beauty and intricate design was wasted on a place where so many people go to offer worship to a god that is inexistent and a god that does not hear them." I continued to flip through the book, and came across pictures of a gorgeous cathedral that was build right down the street from the mosque. I started to think, "That's better. At least someone spent their money and creative energy on a place where people go to worship the real God." But my thought was interrupted by the Holy Spirit.

"Man has labored in vain. Striving to make their places of worship beautiful, they have neglected what I desire most: worship that comes from a pure heart. They come before me on parade, showing off their good deeds like trophies, but they have missed the whole point. I don't want a show or a great display of the talents I have given them. I want them to draw near to me." And THAT'S when I started crying.

I don't think that even one of us could say that we have not been guilty of this. We decorate our 'worship' with beautiful adornments that we think the Father will delight in, and we miss His call to come and be with Him; to worship Him in the stillness of His presence. How many times have I invited Him into my place of worship and spent the first portion of my time with Him giving Him a tour of the great places I have built in vain? He does delight in my deeds and in the fruit that my life bears, but He desires my heart. My plain, simple, unadorned heart.