I have struggled recently.

As an educator, I live in an environment where activism is encouraged, bold plans are proposed, and the world is seen as open to change. Through a number of discoveries and conversations, I find my faith in that view as dwindling. The powered interests in the world are strong and they cling to their control as tightly as we faithful cling to God. Nevertheless, I have always held out the idea that with enough education, enough motivation, the right amount and quality of people, change could come – indeed, would come. It would be inevitable. We would advance through history two steps forward, one back (sometimes the reverse) – but always endeavoring to improve the world and make it fairer, more just, more harmonious.

That view is sometimes hard to maintain. Take climate change, peak oil, soil depletion, overpopulation, pollution, war, torture, slavery, poverty, corruption, loss of privacy, loss of dignity, consumerism, egotism, selfishness, etc. etc. — and it becomes almost impossible to view our world as one that can be redeemed.

I should not be surprised, though. We are promised in the scriptures that this world will fail by the hands of humankind. We will ruin it, sooner or later.

Am I faithless to hope that the interpretations of scripture are wrong? Am I acting out of worldliness or self-righteousness when I wake up and think that I can effect change in the world, real change? Is it wrong to think that I can?

I don’t think so. Why? Because it burns within me and I’ve asked God to take it from me. I have asked to not be burdened by what I see around me. I’ve asked to be blinded to the raging insensitivities of a world culture gone mad with lust for the next device, the next cutest thing, the next new fad. And yet I am confronted by it all the more. And I find these words in my mind, my mouth. Does God not desire justice? Are the weak, starving, voiceless, and pitiful of the world really supposed to be forgotten as we paste our eyes to the gorgeous people on our iPhones? Am I really supposed to blow the horn of patriotism while our country bombs innocent people and detains others without warrant? Am I really supposed to focus on only doing good to my neighbor while my neighbors in other countries are deprived of water because multinational corporations have stolen it?

Remember Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan. Remember that it was in response to someone asking “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus took a Samaritan (not his audience’s favorite kind of people) and contrasted him with other, more “respectable” types. In the end, who acted as the poor, robbed man’s neighbor? The only one who showed him kindness and pity: the Samaritan. What’s the point? It is our duty, as followers of Christ, to show compassion, to take action, to care for the downtrodden – everywhere. Not just next to us, but wherever we may meet them in the world.

James says it as well: the pure form of religion is to show compassion, to take care of orphans and widows – in other words, those who have a hard time taking care of themselves.

I have struggled recently. I have struggled to incorporate a view of God’s redemption with the utter brokenness and corruption of the systems around us. I have struggled to understand how so many Christians think they need a new X, Y, and Z when so many people around the world are suffering. I have struggled to understand how so many can stand aside and not engage the issues of the world when the consequences are so huge for so many people.

And I do not see the fight as useless, like so many of my fellow Christians do. I think there is a weakness within the church to confront the major problems of the society around us.  There is a complacency – to sit around and wait for God’s goodness to come in and rescue us. There’s a temptation to put up with the evil around us, to give in to its power and wait for God to do the work. In a way, I’m guilty as well. I fluctuate from active, involved, purposeful to disheartened, rejected, defeated. It’s so much easier to abandon the world, let it spin out and just enjoy the ride because I know that eternity cannot be tainted by the misery of earth, that my soul is secure with God.

Try as I might, though, I cannot see that message in the teachings of Jesus. I don’t see him saying, “Just relax and forget about all the evil out there. I’ll take care of it someday. Enjoy your latte. Watch your shows. Go ahead and buy that new carpet.”

No, he says, “In this world, you will have troubles, but take heart – for I have overcome the world.” He goes on: “Don’t fear. Don’t worry. I am with you.” But this “with” implies that I’m doing something God might want to be a part of, and I’m not too sure God cares about all the senseless stuff we fill our lives with.

I have struggled recently. I find myself at a tipping point. Do I conform myself to this world? Or do I strike out in bold action and really try to be the Good Samaritan? Do I want to mentally agree with the teachings of Jesus? Or do I want to go out there and live it, make the love happen?

There is nothing in this world that should capture our attention more than the words of Jesus. Like another parable: we are either the man building on rock, or the man building on shifting sand. There is nothing but God in this world for those of us who believe in Him and have given our lives over to Him. All our actions, then, must be focused on doing what God would have us do. Nothing but God, everything with Him.

How can that exclude caring about the starving children here and abroad? How can that overlook true human suffering? How can that include idleness and frivolity and surrender to the evil in the world? We must stand up and fight the evil systems and protect the helpless, in whatever form that takes. If God be for us, who could be against us?