In the Path of Spiritual Burden

August 25, 2008

Lar,

(We don’t have Internet here yet, but we have started to settle in by the grace of God, so I am hoping to get back in normal blogging mode sometime soon–yes, something I haven’t been in in about a month or so!)

I could write about a host of things that have happened as of late, but one thing that happened today stands out quite a bit. It was actually so stirring that I felt compelled to write about it.

I was walking around downtown today, running some errands, when I could not help but be confronted with poverty, difficulty, and despair. Sometimes the effects of the Fall are impossible to ignore. Two people in particular stand out. The first was a gypsy woman who had two young children sleeping next to her on the hot concrete (it was 3:00 in the afternoon). The second was a man in a wheelchair who seemed to be barely alive (He seemed to be asleep, but even now, I am wondering if he was alive). His hospital records were in his lap along with a shoebox of some sort (for gifts of course). He also had a noticeable indent in his head.

The interesting thing about all of this, however, was not that I saw these people, but that I had to make a conscious effort to see this people. For I was so wrapped up in doing what I had to do during my time downtown that I barely noticed the first lady and virtually had to turn around to take notice of the second. Not only that, but after seeing them, I had to actually engage in the scene, so to speak. In a sense, it was as if I had to turn my heart on. To embrace the burden. To actively pursue feeling their pain.

In talking about the pursuit of greater personal holiness and joy in God (and the two go hand in hand, of course), Jonathan Edwards’ once said that it is necessary and wise for us to lay ourselves in the path of spiritual allurements. My experience today leads me to believe that we must do the same for spiritual burdens.

For as far as I see it, we (especially in the suburbs) can more or less live our lives without being confronted by the kind of people I saw today. We can insulate ourselves, even you might say, protect or guard ourselves from seeing such suffering. As followers of Christ, however, this simply will not do. Rather than guarding ourselves from the burden, we need to seek the burden. We need to lay ourselves in the path of spiritual burden, looking for ways in which we can bear the burdens of the weakest of the weak.

I know this is only a blog post Lar, but I want it to be more than that. I don’t want to live the same in light of what I saw today. And I don’t want you to do so either. I want us to actively pursue a burden for the unborn, the orphaned, the widowed, the sick, the imprisoned, the unreached. I want us to take steps. To set aside the time. To cease being so busy with work or ministry that we have time to love as we ought to love.

For me right now, it means going downtown with a pocket full of YTL (Turkish money), and a view towards seeing need. Not running errands. Not buying stuff for my kids. Not eating great chicken soup and baclava. But instead, laying myself in the path of spiritual burden. I ask you brother (and everyone else reading), what will you determine to do right now in order to do the same? What is your next action step? Where will you seek to confront yourself with great need? Let’s make it happen….very soon.

Seeking greater spiritual burden with you,
Joe

Posted by Joe | Filed Under Seeking Him