12-1-14<\/p>\n
A dialog, as if overheard. This has been a \u201ccrowded\u201d week in America \u2013 a confused jumble of social unrest and riots; of Thanksgiving holiday and prayers \u2013 or at least thoughts, maybe \u2013 of traditions and faith.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cLook at those protesters! They have no hope!\u201d
\n\t\u201cAre they protesting or looting? And, I think they have plenty to hope for.\u201d
\n\t\u201cOK. They have nowhere to go but up. But they need schools.\u201d
\n\t\u201cSchools are not magic. If kids don\u2019t attend, no learning can take place.\u201d
\n\t\u201cWell, look around the world. Drugs, prejudice, oppression, greed!\u201d
\n\t\u201cIt sounds like the end times the Bible talks about.\u201d
\n\t\u201cOh, the Bible. Christians haven\u2019t helped anything \u2013 they\u2019ve caused a lot!\u201d
\n\t\u201cYou ignore Christian charity? The Words of Christ?\u201d
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m smart enough to see the bad that has been done, is done, in His name.\u201d
\n\t\u201cSo your problem is with followers who are mistaken, who sin; not Him.\u201d
\n\t\u201cMy problem is with the hypocrites who fill the churches.\u201d
\n\t\u201cHow about the Ferguson church that was torched? It had preached peace.\u201d
\n\t\u201cSo why didn\u2019t their Jesus save that church?\u201d
\n\t\u201cWhy do you hate the gospel message of love so much?\u201d
\n\t\u201cWhy do YOU talk about messages? Can\u2019t you see what people WANT?\u201d
\n\t\u201cIn Ferguson?\u201d
\n\t\u201cNo! People everywhere, oppressed by the system, who want justice.\u201d
\n\t\u201cJustice\u2026 Peace. Those things begin with each one of us.\u201d
\n\t\u201cFool! People everywhere want self-esteem!\u201d
\n\t\u201cI think people everywhere need self-respect.\u201d
\n\t\u201cChurches don\u2019t deliver self-respect.\u201d
\n\t\u201cMaybe not; sometimes not. But Jesus does.\u201d
\n\t\u201cJesus doesn\u2019t bring justice to the streets.\u201d
\n\t\u201cBut Jesus brings justice to our hearts. His sacrifice justified our sins.\u201d
\n\t\u201cAll religions say those things. And life is still miserable everywhere.\u201d
\n\t\u201cNo other god than the Lord defeated death and promises life\u2026 and peace.\u201d
\n\t\u201cFairy tales. I don\u2019t see that working anywhere.\u201d
\n\t\u201cThen you haven\u2019t looked around you, at healed, saved, peaceful souls.\u201d
\n\t\u201cI hear stories, but that\u2019s all they are!\u201d
\n\t\u201cWell, you are talking to someone who knows that peace.\u201d
\n\t\u201cEasy for you to say. You don\u2019t live in poverty, you are not oppressed.\u201d
\n\t\u201cChristians, missionaries, everywhere are some of the poorest of people.\u201d
\n\t\u201cBut Christians are still on the side of the powerful classes.\u201d
\n\t\u201cNearly a thousand Christians every day are imprisoned, tortured, killed.\u201d
\n\t\u201cMaybe THEY should rise up and riot and take the streets back!\u201d
\n\t\u201cMaybe they\u2019re busy praying God\u2019s mercy on the souls of their oppressors.\u201d
\n\t\u201cAnd where will THAT get them?\u201d
\n\t\u201cMaybe to eternal life. Certainly to a place where their souls are at peace.\u201d
\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re back to that again. They\u2019ll still be poor and get no respect\u2026\u201d
\n\t\u201cGo on: no self-respect? No hope? Still with that awful hole in their souls?\u201d
\n\t\u201cYou just don\u2019t understand. You don\u2019t understand what people WANT!\u201d<\/p>\n
Actually, the answer-man in this dialog might be right. We cannot always understand want people WANT. <\/p>\n
What do people want? is a question that doesn\u2019t go away, and burns hotter every day. But to me, more important is: What do people NEED? <\/p>\n
Answer to the quiz: People need the Lord.<\/p>\n
+ + +<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are called to take His light To a world where wrong seems right. What would be too great a cost For sharing life with one who’s lost? \/ People need the Lord, people need the Lord. At the end of broken dreams, He’s the open door. People need the Lord, people need the Lord.\u201d These are words from the beautiful song by Steve Green. Covered here by Fiona Hui.<\/p>\n