I hope to this point I have gotten many of you to think about service and generosity to the point where you feel overwhelmed. To ask the tough questions like: “How do I do all of this?” “How do I keep my eyes open to see the needs around me and respond?” “Why am I so selfish?” Let me bring some guidance along the way.

The is no doubt each and everyday there are hurts, social injustices, and pain all around us. So how do we really help? We also see catastrophes like Katrina, Haiti, 9/11, and so on. How do we help? Do we get so overwhelmed we don’t do anything? This past Sunday we had a couple of families leaving for Thailand to work with young women in the sex trade industry. There is something that Kelly said that has stuck with me. “What do you burn for?”  She said, “find what you burn for and do it…”

Let me ask you! Do you burn for anything? Something so strong that you would leave everything behind to pursue it?  If not, why not? Do our neighborhoods burn for anything? Do our churches burn for anything? The lost, the poor, the sick, the naked, the hungry? I have a feeling that we all have no idea what we burn for so therefore we throw money at things that come our way, go on mission trips, serve in soup kitchens so that we feel better about ourselves as people and sadly enough as Christians. So instead of serving out of our God given passion and gifts we serve out of duty. So how is that working for you?

If you feel lost in the area of engaging or struggling with your identity and purpose than I ask, “what do you burn for?” If you know than focus on it. Andy Stanley in many of his books says, “do less for more”. If you focus the impact will be greater. Reality is we have so many organizations and ministries that have no clue what God wants them to do so they throw the kitchen sink at it and hope something sticks. Then we sit back and wonder why we are not being effective. I know strongly enough that people don’t want to be involved in something that doesn’t make a difference or is stagnant. If you don’t know what you burn for go out and serve and educate yourself. Find something you believe in and want to impact and go for it.

What do you burn for?