Questions On The Journey

I love that the Christian life is such a journey. I know that no matter how much God teaches me here on this planet it will only scratch the surface of His truth. Recently my internal thought processes have focused on the perceived dilemma between "doing" and "grace". There seems to be this rift between the two in the church today. Some are saying we have to do more. It is our responsibility to _________. Fill in the blank with whatever makes you feel most guilty. The other side says there is nothing we can do to add or subtract. We have freedom in Christ. If you feel so led to do________. Go right ahead, but for goodness sakes don't feel guilty. I don't know what the answer is. I do know that ultimately these are two sides of the same coin. We are called AND we are free. So where does freedom end and sin begin? I am free to live in a house with 4 bathrooms while others in the world have no running water. But is it sinful? I am free to have a pantry with food always in it, and put more food in the trash in a week than some people eat in a month. But is it sinful? I am free to send a check to the direct tv people every month so that I can be entertained while mothers sell their children into slavery so that they can feed their families. But is it sinful? Tara recently linked an article on her blog that gave me some chunky food for thought. You know - the soup that eats like a meal kind of thought. You can read it here:http://www.globalcompassion.com/2009/01/05/love-justice-compassion-ego/. So, here I am living in the USA. By some standards I live extravagantly. By others I am pretty frugal. Where does my life become sinful?

Let me sort of switch gears for a minute. I've been praying about something for a while. It's one of those step out sort of things. I can't say that I have gotten the, "Yes, Heather I want you to do this right now!" from God. It is on my heart. That's all. So I asked Jason to be praying about it. So far he says he isn't feeling led. Here's my question. If there is a need, and if you are physically, emotionally, practically able to meet that need is "not feeling led" enough reason to not do it? Don't get me wrong - the ability would come from God. Humanly speaking it would be hard, very hard. And please don't misunderstand. I have the utmost respect for Jason's ability to hear from the Lord. He has proven himself to be an amazing spiritual leader in our family. I'm just throwing out the idea that maybe sometimes, instead of hearing a big ole yes from God, not hearing a no might be enough to move forward. I don't know. Maybe I need to sit tight and keep praying for a big yes. Maybe I need to move forward until a door shuts.

So, back to discussion A. When Jesus says to look after the orphan and widow or to help the poor, what does that look like in real life. Should we all trim our lives down to the absolute essentials. And what would those be? Really. And if you see a need, could fill it, but it would be a huge huge sacrifice should you do it simply and solely on the basis that the need exists? Should you not do it based solely on the fact that you haven't gotten a direct and specific call from the Lord?