Jason's Blog

This happens to me all the time.  I’ll be behind the wheel, and one of my kids will say, “Did you see that?”

“See what?”  I call back.

“That cloud it looks like an elephant.”

It is easy to miss the picture when you’re a growup– with no sense of imagination and eyes trained on the traffic.

Do you see them?  They are are the overlooked:

• Behind a cash register
• Under an overpass
• In a restaurant
• At a gas station
• Holding a leaf blower in the street

All the people that you might never see if you are in a hurry and a prisoner to your schedule.

Even worse, you can be so driven that you don’t even see your own family.  Your child is trying to tell you something, and you are glued to a book, or the internet, or a television show.

Thomas Merton once wrote, “it might be a good thing to open our eyes and see.”

Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air . . . ” (Matthew 6:26).

Carefully take your eyes off the traffic and worries.

Slow down.

Give yourself permission to see the world around you.

See all of it– even those who are overlooked.

Consider the details of life.

Realize again that God is present.

How can He use you in this moment?

What comes to mind when you think of social activists?

I think of a group staging a sit-in protest. Bound together arm in arm, they refuse to leave their spot even as authorities close in to arrest them. Or I think of a picketer carrying a homemade sign and wearing a look of concern. With those images in mind, consider the Apostle Paul. Was he an activist?

Many might think that activist would be the best way to talk about Paul. He was a debater that constantly got in trouble with authorities. He was ridiculed and jeered. Trouble seemed to always find Paul.

The stereotype was Paul is that of a hardened, controversial (or even combative) person.

However, I think it’s better to think of Paul as a disciple rather than an activist. Here’s why:

1. In my mind, an activist tries to use whatever means necessary to change something. From what I can tell, Paul was concerned more with people than with an issue or project. He was compelled by Christ’s love (2 Corinthians 5:14), and he did not look at people from a worldly point of view (2 Corinthians 5:16).
2. Paul never took handouts and sought to help those who were less fortunate (Acts 20:34-35).
3. Just as Jesus built unbelievable friendships, Paul built unbelievable friendships. We see this in his coworkers and the congregations that he founded in Thessalonica and Phillipi. They supported him throughout his life.
4. Paul organized these new communities around the idea of caring for one another in Jesus’ name. He compared the Corinthian church to a body made up of many members. Every part needed the others, and every member suffered when there was injury to one part.

I think we can learn a lot from Paul. Each of us can be deeply commited to others.

• We can strive to be sincere in our love (Romans 12:9).
• We can look to put others interests ahead of our own (Philippians 2:4)
• We can seek to live without complaining and arguing (Philippians 2:14)
• We can look for opportunities to share the good news—even with those normally overlooked by others.

I like this quote by Shaine Claiborne:

“Just as believers are a dime a dozen in the church, so are ‘activists’ in social justice circles nowadays. But lovers are hard to come by. And I think that’s what our world is desperately in need of- lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the issues they are concerned about.” Shaine Claiborne, Irresistible Revolution (Zondervan, 2006): 295-296.

Be a person who sees others faces.  I think this is something that Paul learned from Jesus.