Are You Serious?

This has really been on my mind since Care Group last week. The lesson was on Purpose, and quite frankly, it was dreadful. Afterwards, Kallie and I made fun of the girl who gave the lesson, which was mean of us, and we shouldn't have done it, but our points (which we only made in our mean form to each other and to Stephen) were all valid ones.

Ignoring her Biblical inaccuracies, and the general focus on the merits of herself, the main problem with her lesson was the complete absence of fruit in this area of her life.

She talked a lot about how she wanted to rescue lots of children out of poverty, and how she cries when she sees poor children on TV, etc etc. Now, that is a noble thing to want. I want that. She then said how she was willing to give up everything (her money, her time, her career) in order to achieve this purpose.

And she hasn't done a single thing.

She doesn't have a job, and she's not studying. She lives on money her parents send from overseas. She spends a whole lot of her time shopping. So much so that she bragged how it was so nice to be able to catch up with some non-Christians who visit our group and talk to them (not about God mind) for 4 HOURS on a weekday. She's considered someone getting their camera stolen to be a charity case (I ripped her over that one). She lives a nice, cushy, upper-middle-class life of ease and lack of work. She doesn't volunteer for groups who make a difference; her impact is limited to sponsering a child, which, quite frankly, lots of my non-Christian friends do.

We made fun of her because she isn't serious. Not really. Sure, she's idealistic and wants to "Make a Difference" but not if it REALLY means having to give up something.

So my question is, are you serious? Do you sacrifice to meet the goals that God has for you? Do you actually give - of your time and your money and your emotions - to the church, to the lost, to the needy? When you make comments about wanting to do different things to glorify God, will unbelievers who hear you take you seriously, or will you be a joke to them?