mrcrowder.com

There’s a poor person in your city.
There’s a broken person in your city.
There’s an abused person in your city.
There’s a lonely person in your city.
There’s a depressed person in your city.

And then there’s you. Probably with more affluence than most of the world could ever know what to do with.

You may or may not call yourself a Disciple of Jesus. A follower of Christ. But if you are, or at least you’re thinking about it, or you’re moving that way, or curious…then you should know that being a disciple of Jesus puts you on a different trajectory. Both your end and your journey should begin to be shaped by a different reality.

Jesus called that reality the Kingdom of God. Eschatologically it’s called Heaven, and the death & resurrection of Jesus accelerated it forward (or is that technically backwards?), into reality. Those things we see as the future God has for us should be breaking into the Present. Healing, love, grace, mercy, peace.

That is your trajectory in this world.

But that poor person, or that lonely person, or that hungry person—they have a trajectory too.

And the question you have to ask is, “How does my trajectory collide with that person’s trajectory?” Or more basically, how do I align myself with the values of someone who could so something about the poverty, abuse, brokenness, and loneliness in my city?

Let me give you something very simple to say and very hard to do:

Pray and Give.

It’s amazing how serious, continual, reflective prayer will change the way you see the world. And when you see things differently—when you’re exposed to something—you’re often compelled to act on it. How is a lack of prayer, which I truly believe is primarily about aligning with God, keeping you from experiencing the proper trajectory for your faith? And how much does it isolate you from the things God is passionate about?

Likewise, when you open yourself up and give your time, resources, etc., then you can’t help but become heavily invested in the outcome. How much do you really need to live (money, the way you spend your time, relationships, things) and how much is keeping you from living?

Last question: who’s trajectory is closer to God’s trajectory? Yours? Or the homeless person? The lonely person?