“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity” – George Bernard Shaw

 

 

I’m going to throw out a few statistics to y’all, and I want you to be conscience of how it makes you feel.

 

• 2.6 billion people live on less than $2 a day (40 percent of the world's people).

•  If your income is $25,000 per year, you are wealthier than approximately 90% of the world’s population.

• Approximately 25,000 people die each day of hunger or its related causes. This is about 9 million people a year

• As many as 5 million people die every year of water-related illnesses.

 

Now if you’re anything like me — and it really, really pains me to say this– you see these statistics are overwhelming, but remain somewhat unaffected by the numbers. I want to tell you about a study I found:

 

In 2006, Paul Slovic, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, divided random people into three subgroups. The first group was presented with a story of a poor, starving girl named Rokia and was shown a picture of her. The second group was given a statistical portrait of 17 million Africans in four countries who were desperately hungry and another four million who were homeless. The third group was given the story of Rokia, and also the statistical information given to group two. At the end of the study all three groups were asked to donate money to relieve suffering. The second and third group donated a similar amount, but the group that was told the story of the girl and was shown a picture gave significantly more.

 

Statistics dehumanize people.

 

One night I received a text from a good friend of mine saying that her friend was really struggling financially and could barely pay rent. I texted back asking, “Do I know this girl?” When I read the word “yes,” I knew I had to do something (how amazing is it that God lets us be the tools to do his work!). I left at nearly midnight to run to an ATM, put some money in an envelope, and give it to my friend who then passed it on to the girl who still remains anonymous to me. The point is, if we look at these daunting statistics in terms of relationships, our mentality will drastically change and a sense of urgency will overcome us. As if one person we know struggling isn’t hard enough, try to fathom the weight of knowing millions of people who are suffering. God does, and His heart breaks. He uses us as the foot soldiers to serve every nation.

 

Nowhere in the Bible does it say, “Let UNICEF save the world,” or “Let Water Aid bring purified water to countries around the globe.” No, the Bible calls every one of us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31), to help those that have the inability to help themselves (Acts 20:35), to let our light shine through our actions so people can glorify God (Matthew 5: 13-16) at the sight of benevolence. If even a quarter of the roughly 2.3 billion people who claim to be Christian turned the word “love” into an action our world would be radically changed.

 

As William Coffin said, “I love the recklessness of faith. First you leap, and then you grow wings.”

 

Be courageous, my friends. Take chances. Receive so much love from Jesus that your only response is to be reckless in love towards others. It may feel like a daunting task, but we’re all equipped to make a change.

 

Much love,

 

 

Taylor

“I Love the Recklessness of Faith. You Leap, and Then You Grow Wings.”

01.10.2014