LIVES WORTH LEADING
HOLY DISCONTENT
WE HAVE BEEN CALLED TO GET M.A.D BY COLIN MCCARTNEY
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n one of the ministries we are involved in we have a program called M.A.D — Make A Difference. We tell our people they need to get M.A.D when they see something that is happening that they know is wrong. It is our way of saying that they need to get busy making a difference instead of just complaining. You see, for us M.A.D is a great acronym for “Make A Difference,” and we hope to teach our people that getting upset about things in this world is not good enough. Instead of just getting angry at the world, we need to roll up our sleeves and “Make A Difference” in our world. I suspect that in the social media world of today it’s easy for too many people to relegate their need for involvement to “Make A Difference” to that of words not actions. After all, why “Make A Difference” in addressing world hunger through the action of sponsoring a child, when you can tweet a few words of indignation? Instead of rolling up your sleeves and volunteering in your church, why not just blog about how the church has become irrelevant? Why take the time out to tutor a child when you can tweet a few words about how bad our school system is? I genuinely fear that making a difference in our world in real practical ways has now been replaced by blogging and tweeting how we feel about things. It’s as if our own pious bluster on matters makes us feel good about ourselves
DEEDS NOT and excuses us from really was sick with a flu bug. The TWEETS GET having to get involved in day after that I was very ill PEOPLE’S people’s messy lives. Thank too. To spread a virus, one ATTENTION God Twitter has increased must be in close, hands-on the character count from proximity, and it was clear AND POINT 140 to 280! Now we can say to me that by spending THEM TO GOD. more and do less. As James time with Mom and being warns us concerning the in close proximity with poor according to the Colin McCartney her that, she passed her bug on to translation of Scripture; me. If people are to catch a germ, it is because they have been in contact with “If one of you blogs; ‘Go in peace; keep someone personally. No one catches warm and well fed,’ but does nothing a virus from a tweet but they can be about their physical needs, what good impacted through touch. In this way is it? In the same way, tweets by itself, I see the Gospel as a wonderful virus if it is not accompanied by action, is that spreads through hands on action. dead. But someone will say, ‘You have As Jesus said; tweets; I have deeds. Show me your tweets without deeds, and I will show “In the same way, let your light shine you my faith by my deeds. You believe before others, that they may see your that there is one God. Good! Even the good deeds and glorify your Father in demons believe that — and shudder. You heaven.” – Matthew 5:16 foolish person, do you want evidence that tweets and blogs without deeds is Remember, deeds-not tweets-get useless…As the body without the spirit people’s attention and point them is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” to God. – James 2: 16 – 20, 26 I liken making a difference to spreading a virus. Right now, as I type these words, I am battling a flu bug. I know where I got it — it’s my mother’s fault! I had visited her and she gave me hugs and kisses like any loving mother does to someone as special as me (Yes, you can read my humility in these words). The very next day I had to take her to the hospital because she
/ COLIN MCCARTNEY is an ordained minister, speaker, and a bestselling author. He is also the founder of UrbanPromise Toronto and now leads Connect Ministries in Toronto where he, his wife Judith, and their two children reside. For information in booking Colin as a speaker, please visit www.connectministries.org.
MAY / JUNE 2019 SEVEN 31
