Life on Life Newsletter "Sensationalism" April 2022
Dear Friends,
I hope this note finds you all doing well. It’s a bit chilly and damp outside, but we're warm here in the house. For some time now, I’ve been wrestling with my own questions about ministry and the temptation to want to be involved in something more sensational.
For many years, I felt like I was on the backroads of humanity, as though I would live my life in service and someday die without ever really making a difference. It’s amazing how the enemy manipulates, tempting us with the desire to be front and center, making a big splash, impressing people, receiving accolades and awards, and making lots of money.
When we look at the ministry of our Lord, no life was more impactful than His. For 30 years, He lived His life in the shadows, and then for the last 3 years of His life, He lived out in the open, not trying to capture the sensationalism of the day, but just serving. He was, however, very impactful.
Why am I saying all of this? Perhaps you are tempted like me. You want your life to matter, and we should. However, frequently we miss God, because our idea of what’s important is inconsistent with His.
I was very humbled as I recently contemplated a message written by my friend Dane Massey, which spoke to the temptation of pursuing the sensational aspects of ministry. Below are a few excerpts from this message.
"Jesus did many miracles during His ministry but He never gave way to the sensational. You never get the impression of: “Hey everyone come and watch this!” When He wanted to teach His disciples how to “love one another” He didn’t give each of them a “miracle” and say, “Go and do likewise!” He washed their feet! The Kingdom of God is not found in the sensational, but in the mundane, in the everyday giving away of our lives. The danger of this temptation is that we live in a world enamored by the sensational. We love the “highlight reels”.
"Nations, cultures, communities are built on the backs of “mundane” people! The janitors, the plumbers, the mechanics, the executives who hold the line with ethics, the health care workers who wipe butts, clean up blood and vomit, the farmer, the soldier who will never get the medal but stands the lonely guard every night! The one who prays but will never stand in the front delivering the message. The little old lady who gives a dollar. I could name a thousand more.
"It doesn’t take much thought to understand why celebrity entertainers and athletes, who “produce” nothing of value, are paid millions. We long to be like them, so we buy their junk, paying them so we can “live through them”, and worship at the throne of their “achievements”. You and I need to reject the shallow sensationalism of this world and find “life” where the “rubber hits the road” whether that’s in the “boardroom” or “digging ditches”!
At Life on Life, we are feeding young people, helping them with the bare necessities of life, writing to them in prison, talking to them on the phone, helping them to find transportation, working with them to obtain their GED. If they need a birth certificate, driver’s license, or social security card, we help them through the steps to obtain these documents.
Through these mundane tasks, we endeavor to show the love of Jesus, while we share the Word of God and the hope that Jesus gives with these young men and women. There’s no glory in it. No glamor. But it is what Jesus would do. Please pray, and when you can, please give. We are also in need of reliable used vehicles for the year 2022. If you have an extra vehicle that you would consider donating, please contact us.
With gratitude,
Earnest Alexander
Life on Life, Inc.
P.O. Box 864
Goddard, KS 67052 ... See more