Action

Action

Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

ALTHOUGH DIFFICULT TO OPENLY ADMIT, there have been many times in my life I have dismissed thoughts to help, encourage, or get involved because of five simple words: Somebody else will do it. As quickly as I’ll think it, the motivation to step up or do something dissipates.

I’m released from feeling like I should act. Because really, with so many other Christians out there, surely God has someone else in mind who could do it. And that has alleviated me from guilt many a day. Too many days.

Until I saw a post by an adoption network I follow that told the story of a young man who had been in foster care his whole life. Moved from home to home, with no family, no permanency.

Until one Sunday morning, his social worker took him to a local church where he stood up during the service and asked for a family. As I read his story, tears began to fall. My heart broke.

The next morning I showed my husband the story. And together we talked. What could we do? Surely, others have stepped up to help?

“It doesn’t matter if others have stepped up. We need to do something,” I stated. And Kyle agreed.

Completely unsure what to say, I wrote an email to the foster agency overseeing the young man’s case. I told them we were foster parents, and asked if there was anything we could do. And then I hit send. I didn’t know what their response may be. All I knew was that I put away the reasoning, the excuse, that somebody else will do it. I decided, instead, that I needed to be that somebody.

Although at times the concerns of the world can be overwhelming, we as Christians should be at the forefront, leading the way on speaking up and taking action on these issues. Because haven’t we all been rescued in some way? And although yes, there are times that there may be somebody better suited to step up, maybe, more often than not, we are that somebody. We are the ones who need to act.

Lord, help us to not just say we have faith, but be willing to act on it as well. Amen.

-Kendra

One Good Step: The next time you want to dismiss getting involved, choose instead to act.