CURRENT THEME: New hope for 2013 (Share your feedback with us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or share your testimony at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

DAY 31: NEW HOPE ... RETURNING TO THE BASICS

By Benescke Janse van Rensburg

The parable of Theodore Wedel touched me deeply. I would like to share it with you today:

In a particular country, a dangerous coastline caused many shipwrecks and also bathers to find themselves in trouble. In order to prevent anyone from drowning, a group of rescue workers watched the sea day and night from their simple hut, with only one rescue boat. A lot of people were rescued in the process.

As the rescued survivors went home, they shared the story of the rescue station and a lot of people visited the station out of curiosity. Over time the visitors and local people felt the small hut had to be upgraded to function more effectively. Wealthy visitors and locals raised money and donated it to build a bigger station. New rescue teams were trained and the station got promoted to become a club, where people could also spend social time together.

The rescue station was further enlarged and equipped with better furniture. More and more people were drawn to work at the station for the salary and prestige, rather than their passion to save people in distress. Due to the upgrade at the station, the vulnerable people saved from ships were not immediately allowed inside the club. They had to be washed and cleaned outside before entering the building.

At the next board meeting, the club was split into two groups. One group insisted all rescue activities must be terminated as strange people were brought to the club from the sea – and that endangered the normal social life at the club. The other group reminded the meeting about their primary reason of existence: to save people. The decision? A new rescue station should be build further up the coast line.

History however repeated itself. That new rescue station soon became a club and again members demanded exclusivity. Rescue efforts were terminated and a new rescue station was built. If you visit the coast line today, you will find various pleasant, exclusive clubs. Ships still got wrecked, but this time most of the victims died. . .

Is this what is happening in our churches today? Have we become so comfortable in our exclusive buildings that we have forgotten about the broken, dirty, hungry, jobless and homeless people outside in the world? God hates wrong priorities and in Amos 5:21-24 He reminds us of how invaluable rituals and festivals inside our churches are, if we neglect to show justice and mercy to those in need: “I hate all your show and pretense— the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps.Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.” And in Matthew 25:40, Jesus reminds us that helping the poor is as if we are helping Him: “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”

God is love and in reaching out to the broken, vulnerable people around us, we are demonstrating His love to the world. He sent his Son so that no one will perish, but have everlasting life. Is it still the message we are preaching today, or have we become trapped in our comfortable church buildings, while the broken are dying in the storms outside?

Father God, thank you for your love and grace. Help us not to get so caught up with rituals and comfort, that we forget to demonstrate these qualities to the world. I ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

** Benescke Janse van Rensburg is a radio DJ, freelance journalist and author of the books, Ontdek God in die stories van mense, Wysheid-oordenkings uit Spreuke and Hoop in tye van nood-oordenkings uit Psalms. Visit website: www.benescke.co.za for more information.