On April 28
th, I joined with 68,000 people from across the country in an attempt to end a war. We gathered in 15 cities to raise awareness to the crisis in Northern Uganda. We did this by sleeping outside in cardboard boxes. Why would we do that? Why, in this age of mass communication, email, and multimedia extravaganzas, would we utilize cardboard, packing tape, and markers to make our message heard? Because, we wanted to demonstrate what sort of condition the people of Northern Uganda have had to live in for the past 10 years. We chose to sleep in cardboard boxes, because they have been forced to live in huts in camps
that do not have adequate food, water, or supplies.
Because of the war between the rebel army and the government of Uganda, the government, in an effort to protect its people established internal displacement camps. They were designed to be temporary dwellings, but as I said earlier, people have been forced to live there for 10 years. The government only gave them 48 hours to leave their homes, and have not allowed them to leave since. The combination of the ongoing war and the forced displacement of thousands of Ugandans has created one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize that this crisis is occurring. These people and this problem is invisible to the majority of the world.
Fortunately, there is at least one organization working to make this tragedy very visible. Invisible Children (www.invisiblechildren.com) is striving to inform people of what is going on in Uganda, and ways that they can raise awareness and bring about change. Because 68,000 people believe that sleeping outside for a night will raise awareness and help end the war in Uganda, we slept outside. We have faith that our actions have the power to make a difference. We have faith that the invisible children can be made visible, and we are doing what we can to make that happen. Our faith in the cause is leading us to action.
And that action is a result of faith in a cause that was created by people. How much more action should our faith in the God of the universe lead us to? James 2:14-17 says, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” If our faith in God is not leading to action, to a visible change in
our life, then it is essentially dead. We cannot claim to have a life-changing relationship with Christ if there is no evidence of change. Doing so, is going to weaken our witness and display a hypocritical Christianity to the people around us.
As Brian Harbour says, ultimately faith “is more than just believing something. Faith is belief plus what we do with that belief.” Our beliefs and action cannot be separated. They are not two distinct elements, but rather, they work together in forming our faith. You can claim to believe something all day long, but until you actually act on that belief, you do not truly
have faith.
A personal relationship Christ is only possible because of the grace of God, and our recognition of that grace should inspire us to seek to meet the needs of those people we encounter everyday. And those needs are both physical and spiritual. Figure out how you can use your gifts, talents, and abilities to help others. Find things that you are passionate about, and get involved. You are uniquely created, and God has a unique plan for your life. Remember the quote from Frederic Buechner, “The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Find the place where God has called you and do everything you can to meet the needs of the people in that place.
Put your faith into action…it is the only way that you’re going to be able to bring about change in the world.
