Duty

"...But I refuse
'Cause I don't want to live like I don't care
I don't want to say another empty prayer
Oh, I refuse

To sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself
Oh, I could choose
Not to move but I refuse..."

-I Refuse, Josh Wilson

It's impossible for me to really look at my life, to look at my friends lives, to look at this world and not see everything that's wrong with it. It's obvious. Children starving, dying. Countries without access to clean water. Rape. Child abuse. War. Disease. Famine. Mass extinction. Global warming. Natural disasters. Poverty. Opression. Torture. Medical experimentation.

The list goes on and on. And I find myself making a conscious effort every day to ignore it. To ignore all that's going on around me. If I don't ignore it, I'll drive myself nuts. Because my life is only making things worse. I'm not doing anything to help and the guilt is overwhelming. I could just continue to ignore it, carry on with my selfish life, but... I don't want to.

I want to leave the world a better place than when I came into it. I want my family to live in a better world. I don't want my friends to go through so much suffering. I don't want to hear the stories on the news every night.

I want a better world.

And more and more every day God's showing me that it is my duty, to Him, to my neighbor and to myself to do something to make it a better place.

Saying prayers is stupid when I have the power to change things. Yes, pray. But then when you're done go and do something, too. We are the body of Christ. Which means he acts through us. He could fix the whole world with a snap of His fingers if He wanted to. But he has called us to do it.

"Love your neighbor", "take pity on the poor", "sell all your belongings", "deny yourself and Follow me", "walk as He walked".... The scriptures are full of these callings.

And I'm done sitting around and not doing anything.

• I'm donating my birthday to charity water
• I'm volunteering at a local food bank
• I'm going to help at House to House (a bible study group through my church)
• I'm going to help my Church
• I'm going to live as simply as possible (AKA minimalism)
• I'm going to donate every penny I cannot live without
• I'm going to love and serve the people in my life to the best of my ability
• I'm not going to be shy talking about my amazing God anymore
• I'm going to talk about God, to my friends and family and their friends and family and everyone I can (loving someone is giving them eternal life, not letting them die), and bring as many of them to Church each Sunday I can
• I'm going to live with a greater respect for the environment (less processed foods, less waste, etc.)
• I'm going to spend as much of my time serving God as possible, because all of my life should revolve around Him, not just Sunday mornings

I'm done tiptoeing around propriety. I'm done being shy or scared to voice the Truth. I'm done lazing around and wasting my life. I'm done not doing what I know with all of my heart I was sent here to do - serve others.

I refuse to be the same. God's changed me and I need to show that. I need to let his light shine out.

I hope you'll do the same. Together, we can knock this world onto its knees before God, we can save so many lives. We can make big changes. We are the body of Christ and when we work alone we can accomplish big things. But when we work together we can accomplish amazing things.

If you would like to know more about Christ, feel free to email me at fred_the_goldfish@yahoo.com or comment on this post.

The Project:
Changing the World: Part One