“One year into my position as president of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), I am more convinced than ever of this biblical principle: doing big things for a big God is merely the accumulation of little things done for people.  I have seen firsthand the big things we are doing in partnership with the Hindustani Covenant Church among sex-trade workers in India. But it comes down to people who are willing to babysit the children of prostitutes while their mothers work in new alternate employment. . .  I have seen firsthand the great relief it is to families to know their adult handicapped children or siblings are in a caring, professional setting in our network of group homes known as Covenant Enabling Residences. But know it comes down in certain cases to staff members who change adult diapers for those who cannot care for themselves.” – Gary Walter, President of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC)

I don’t know about you, but I certainly have the great ability to overcomplicate things at times and, as a result, miss the point in certain areas of life.  Following Christ and living as His body through the Church is no exception.  Words such as compassion, mercy, justice, and missions have a sweet ring to them, but is it possible that we are thinking and talking about them more than actually living in them daily?

Before I go any further, I need to give a brief disclaimer: I am not a church pimp for the ECC!  It is also not my desire to make an attempt to get as many folks as possible to jump on over to the Covenant.  However, I am grateful to be a part of what God is doing through this body of believers.

Having said that, I invite you to read the words of Gary Walter cited above once more and then really pray and meditate on them.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe that God calls His people at times to do some pretty wild stuff on some pretty large scales.  However, is it possible that we have made the call to live missionally more romantic and grandiose than it really is at times?

Maybe God will call you to something HUGE in the future, but in the mean time, what are some “little things” that could be done today for people in your world in the name of Jesus Christ?  Once again, isn’t it funny how the paradox of God’s kingdom works in that often times the things we deem as small and insignificant are the very things that Christ uses to do big work in people’s lives?

“In the same way the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs.  If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.”  –  C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

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?