Voice of the Orphan Blog

Defining Oneself

They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.  - John 12:43

The cries of the human heart – to be special, valued, appreciated, loved, validated and accepted. From what sources do we get these desires fulfilled? From where does our worth come? If from job success; through relationships with friends or family; via our children's successes; our physical appearance; from the things we own, activities in which we excel, or even through our service in ministry, then we will find ourselves eventually disappointed and unfulfilled. If we are looking to any of these things to increase our value or define us, they will surely fail us. No matter what we are looking to in order to bring us worth other than God, we are setting these things up as idols in our lives.

I know extremely few people who would ever admit that they have struggled with idolatry. Yet, God says it is something common to the sin of man. I Cor.10:13-14. "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry." I think the main reasons we do not see ourselves this way, is because we misunderstand what idolatry actually is and because its activity is commonly accepted, even encouraged. The golden calf is NOT the twenty -first century idol of America; but rather it is people, things, relationships, appearance, performance, and the fulfilling of our own earthly desires that we look to for satisfaction, self-worth and acceptance. As much as we often convince ourselves that we care so deeply for others, speaking boldly of our great love and respect for them, we must be sure that we are really loving them, particularly those closest to us, and not setting them up to fail us because they are not meeting our expectations. For real love is unconditional but idolatry is defined by conditions. Idolatry is all about what these people and things do for us and bring to us.

Putting others and things in the place only meant for God is looking to them for something that was never intended. We approach them with unrealistic expectations and then we wonder why they fail us.

Don’t Compete with God for Glory

Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor. - Proverbs 29:23

We must not in anyway compete with God for glory.  In order for Him to receive glory from our lives we must make each action about Him and not us. As long as we seek praises of men, we leave no room for really loving them. It takes the presence of God flowing through us to impact men with things of worth. But God can only flow through us if humility has had its way in us.

Remember, either we will choose to humble ourselves or God promises to humble us. But for those who choose the less embarrassing way of being willing and not forced under the corrective hand of God, to these He promises grace.  And it is his grace, His empowering presence, which we are seeking - because it is in His presence of grace where we experience peace, joy, contentment, fulfillment, honor, purpose, love, and comfort.

Experiencing God

Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24

Although I came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ at a young age, it was not until I took steps to embrace the needy that I truly began experiencing God’s miracles for which I had always longed. By entering the stories of Rwandan genocide orphans and the Sudanese Lost Boys reuniting with their parents, and witnessing the church successfully embrace and care for the alien and the oppressed, I was guided further up and further in to the profound truths of living Christ’s way. The major fundamentals of the Christian Faith which I intuitively knew to be true and had sung about in hundreds of worship songs had at long last become solidified through my personal experiences with Christ among the needy. 

Though I went reluctantly at first into the fields of the fatherless and the lands of the poor, I started to proactively take the hands of the orphans and the needy and go where they were leading me.  Through the living example of each of these guides, I experientially learned many essential truths of the Christian life which up to that point I recognized I had only intellectually grasped.  These lessons include:  genuine charity, unfathomable forgiveness, profound self-sacrifice, true worship, God’s empowering presence, true fasting, the groaning of creation, and the secret of contentment and joy. By entering their stories, I delved deeper into the profound truth of how to live Christ’s way and came to the realization that we can embrace Christ by embracing and serving the Least of These. 

When the church understands what it means for God to call Himself the Father of the fatherless, we will see not only the orphan, but also the widow, the poor, the oppressed and the stranger in a whole new light.  In this context we will begin to see them as members of the royal family of God guiding us in our journey, essential parts of the Body necessary to building itself up, and critical contributors to our own sanctification and blessing. And as we respond, we will extend God’s loving hand to the needy and will bring glory to Him as the source of all love.

God has designed us to be the vessels of his character to this hurting world, and He has chosen his bride to do His work while he is away.  So, it is to be through each of us that God will reveal his personality of love, justice and righteousness.  In Psalm 10:18, the Spirit has told that church that God brings “justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.”  So for those who Know Him and understand that in these things He delights, for those willing to submit their lives into His hands, He will choose to use our lives to bring justice.  And in so doing, we will come to know Him all the more – for this is the gnosco, the experience, of knowing God!