The Hole In Our Gospel

I recently re-read The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, president of World Vision. I originally listened to the book as an audiobook last summer, then our church started a series based on the book and I read it again. Rich lived a good life. He had a family, a successful career, and a firm foundation on Christ. But when God called him to give up his luxury and security to lead World Vision, it opened his eyes to a world of hurt. Wrapping up the series at church, we brought Rich in to speak to the congregation and to all the volunteers. It was amazing to hear him speak.

The title The Hole In Our Gospel comes from the idea that if you cut out every verse of scripture from the 66 books of the Bible that deals with poverty, wealth, justice, and oppression, then you would have a gospel full of holes. There are almost 2,000 verses in scripture that deal with these topics. This is our gospel, not The Gospel. Our gospel is born of ignorance and indifference.

Rich spoke of Jonah 2:8, Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God's mercies. He had a nice home and company car and lived in a great community. But God called him to leave all of that, take a considerable pay cut, and uproot his family to the other side of the United States. Rich had worked for Lenox, a fine china company, before leaving to lead World Vision. He met with his friends that still worked there 10 years after he left to see how they were doing. Since he left, they had gone through 5 CEOs, closed 5 of their 6 manufacturing facilities, and saw their revenue cut in half. This is the future he would have had if he clung to worthless idols. Two weeks after meeting them, Lenox filed for bankruptcy.

Are you pursuing a career or a calling? You can use a career as a calling to build God's Kingdom. Let it be a means to an end.

God's heart is broken when He sees war, trafficking, ethnic tensions, disease, exploitation, etc.... and then sees us doing nothing. At the same time we pray for those afflicted, we must pray that God will sear our hearts that we never forget. We are too easily distracted. In America, we live in a bubble. Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision back in 1950, prayed Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God. He prayed this prayer to reignite his passion after leading World Vision for 20 years. It's the passion that puts you on that next plane to Ethiopia. Rich says that if he can't shed a tear over the world's poverty and depravity, then it's time to hand the reigns to someone else.

How do you become mindful of needs here and around the world? Get plugged into a group of people that challenges you with what God expects of you. Intentionality is important. Tithing is intentional -- it doesn't just happen. Be intentional about what is going on in the world. Make yourself read, watch, listen, follow, and become educated of need in the world. And don't assume you have to leave the country to help the poor. There are Americans who are not necessarily poor because of their own choice. Don't assume that everyone is poor in Kenya because of circumstance and everyone is poor in America because of choice. You don't know their story. They could have had generations of poverty in their family and they were raised up in that way.

Be ignited and make a difference for one person this day.

- Andrew