Do Something

"We can believe in CPR, but people will remain dead until someone breathes new life into them."

"We are not simply to bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, but we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself."

"We are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside ... but one day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not constantly be beaten and robbed. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that a system that produces beggars needs to be repaved. We are called to be the Good Samaritan, but after you lift so many people out of the ditch you start to ask, maybe the whole road to Jericho needs to be repaved."

There will always be casualties. Until we get to the root of the problem, until we decide to stop simply giving out fish and actually give someone a fishing rod, nothing will change.

There will always be people that need money. There will always be people that need food. There will always be people that need clothes.

Until we stop waiting for them to come to us and we actually hit the problem at the source.

We don't just wait for the beggars to come to us beaten after their treacherous journey on the road to Jericho. We go clear out the robbers and repave the road. We strike first.

We don't simply bandage the road rash of people that have been overrun by the wheels of injustice. We take a steel bar and shove it through the spokes of that wheel.

Why don't we do this though?

Because it's easier to write a check.

Because it's easier to say "I'll pray for you."

Because no one actually wants to get their hands dirty.

James 2:14-17 says it best: "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 not accompanied by works is dead."

Shane Claiborne says it this way: "Tithes, tax-exempt donations, and short-term mission trips, while they accomplish some good, can also function as outlets that allow us to appease our consciences and still remain a safe distance from the poor. Charity can be a dangerous insulator."

He continues: "I'm just not convinced that Jesus is going to say, 'When I was hungry, you gave a check to the United Way and they fed me,' or , 'When i was naked, you donated clothes to the Salvation Army and they clothed me.' Jesus is not seeking distant acts of charity. He seeks concrete acts of love."

Too many are trying to play this game with one foot on the court and one foot on the bench.

It's time to either get on the court or sit down.

Because this halfway stuff isn't actually solving anything.

It's not fixing what's really broken.

It's only damage control.