The Splendid Torch

I love this quote by George Bernard Shaw:

 

“This is the true joy in life — the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, the being a force of nature instead of feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. 

 

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got ahold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” 

 

So what does this quote have to do with my involvement with FaithWork and my spiritual journey? Namely this: that when I quit spending countless hours merely studying the Bible and instead “did” the scriptures by serving those in need, my faith went from a smoldering flame to a splendid torch.

 

Jesus said that whomever loses his life for Jesus’s sake, truly finds his life. This isn’t a pithy saying. I’ve experienced it and found it to be true. Suddenly, the One who I have claimed to follow for years has become very real to me. Why? Because when Jesus was alive, He spent much of His time hanging out with the downtrodden and ministering to them. Where can you still experience His presence today? You guessed it, with the downtrodden.

 

I’m not saying that you won’t experience Jesus in the ‘burbs. I will say, though, that He is hard to miss in the inner-city. So why do a bunch of well-heeled Johnson Countians spend so much time in the urban core serving on FaithWork projects? For a lot of us, we can’t think of a more exciting place to serve.

    

What about you? What experiences have caused your faith to come alive? Have you caught glimpses of God’s Spirit at work?