jeremyduncan.ca

Second Thoughts

// December 4th, 2007 // random

A good friend, Dan Johns, addeds some thoughts from Africa to my last post [read them] and it got me thinking along these lines some more.

Let me clarify two things.
I don’t think we need to try to help everyone, because then nothing happens. We need to make the hard decision to help someone.

But at the same time, we can’t just give from our excess or the systemic issues won’t change. We need to sacrifice something for that cause. This is what I was trying to get at with the “drop in the bucket” comment. Not that we need to try to do everything but that we need to be committed to something.

Also

I don’t think we, in the West, need to feel guilty for what we have. That was never Jesus point as he taught and that is never a good motivation for anything but a reactive posture. Instead of feeling guilty we need see what we have been given and to feel that we can use that to be part of a better story- part of a real solution.

When we are guilty we give from our excess to appease that emotion. When we see ourselves as blessed for a purpose we can take bold steps to move towards using what we have to affect change.