I remember the first time I was taught about slavery. The first thing that came to my mind was, "How could we have been so stupid? How could we have thought that it was acceptable on any level to treat another human being like an animal?" I remember thinking that if I had been alive during that time period, surely I would have done something. Surely I would have known in my heart that Christians weren't supposed to treat their brothers and sisters that way.

I just finished watching a documentary on the war in Liberia. Just seven years ago, right outside my window, bullets killed hundreds upon hundreds of innocent people, countless orphans were left without food for weeks on end, and untreated disease (because of hospital closings during the war) ran rampant. I watched the film in horror as soldiers dug giant holes in the ground and threw in dead body after dead body. Mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, and children alike laid shoulder to shoulder. No one to recognize their death. No one left for these children to cry on because both of their parents were in that hole. During the documentary, a journalist talked with the mother of an orphanage. She was keeping 175 children, some severely malnourished, with absolutely no food left to give them. She begged, "Please, even if you can't stop the war, tell America to at least bring us food. We are dying here." This was seven years ago.

I remember being so thankful that I wasn't around during slavery. Thankful that my faith wasn't put to the test in such close quarters. I hoped that I would be different. I hoped that I would stand up for what I believed in. But unfortunately, the way the world usually works is that if enough people around you accept something, you will too. If enough people ignore something, you will too. 

While watching this documentary, I realized that just because I didn't live during the Civil War doesn't make me exempt from my test of faith. Just because I don't wake up and see poverty and hunger and war every day doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I love America. If you were to ask anyone, I think they would describe me as a small-town, southern kind of girl. I am so thankful for our freedom. I love our culture. I love that we are able to dream and know that if you work hard and set your mind to it, you have the ability to become almost anyone you want to be. But I will say that America has done a good job of putting itself in a protective bubble. I can honestly say that I feel like I am living on a different planet over here. 

Of course I want to go home and lay by the pool and listen to my iPod and pretend that everyone in the world is as happy as I am. I want to go to my social events and spend all the money that I want to without feeling guilty. I want to be comfortable and pretend like everyone else in the world is okay. But the raw truth is, they aren't. Some are right outside your door, others are on the other side of the world. They don't live on the same continent as you? They don't believe the same things you do? I'm sorry, but SO WHAT. That does not make them any less of your brother or sister. Jesus says, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me." He said, "Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." We've done a good job at making these seem like options. They are commandments. They are the gospel.

I'm sorry if I sound frustrated in the this post, but the truth is, I am so frustrated. I am frustrated with myself and I am frustrated with our culture. We  want to hear the part of the Bible that we want to hear and put aside all the hard stuff. We wear our church clothes and our kids hear the Sunday school story and we think that makes us a Christ-follower. Jesus did not come so that we would talk the talk. He came to teach us how to walk. Helping our brothers and sisters is not an option. It isn't something we should do if we have extra time and extra money. We are supposed to love our neighbor AS OURSELF. When Jesus said those things about giving Him water when he was thirsty and food when He was hungry, I don't think He meant we do that once in our life. I think He meant that we do it day in and day out. When it's comfortable and when it's convenient and just as much when it's not. 

I absolutely hate it, but there is hunger and poverty and war right now. We can't ignore it anymore. We can't pretend like it isn't there. I'm not saying that everyone has to fly to across the world, even though some of us need to. I'm just saying we HAVE to care. If you call yourself a Christian, you have no option. I'm just asking us to re-prioritize. Whether it means loving prostitutes, visiting prisoners, feeding hungry bellies, holding orphaned babies, telling pregnant teenagers that they are loved, we HAVE to start making our lives about others instead of ourselves. 

We were sent to serve, not to be served.