This headline came across Twitter today from The Onion:
Child Slavery Gives Area Activist Something To Do With Her Evenings
It made me laugh and grimace at the same time. I guess that is the point of The Onion's sarcastic pseudo-journalism. It makes us laugh at ourselves and wince at the same time.
So - let's put this on the table. Some people (myself included) have at times used other people's suffering as a way to add meaning to our boring lives. Activism can be a wonderful distraction from our meaningless and painfully boring lives. Who hasn't felt the siren call - You can be important! You can make a difference! You can win friends and influence people!
Of course it doesn't have to be child slavery - though that is obviously a hot topic these days. It could be anything we think is important, something that can bring positive social change: abortion, christian education, urban renewal, urban education, renewable energy, AIDS or debt in third world countries. The list is endless because the brokenness of our world is everywhere.
Now, before you go and get all defensive - I am not saying that activism isn't important. I am not saying your area of activism isn't important (though it may not be). I am not saying we can't make a difference in making life better for others.
What I am saying is that the subtle temptation is to make our area of activism, which is a good thing, into an idol, an ultimate thing. I see this all the time with people who simply drift from one area of social justice to another - always beating a drum of change - but never being all that changed themselves. It reminds me of Walt Whitman's sad and poignant A Noiseless Patient Spider. They are always looking, but never quite finding somewhere to anchor their personal identity. Others land a single drum and beat it their whole lives - finding comfort and personal affirmation in their own consistency.
But when we do that, we are subtly using the suffering and brokenness of others in order to justify our existence and give us meaning.
As Christ-followers we have a better option. Instead of serving others to make us feel good about ourselves - to give meaning to our lives - we need to do it because we already have meaning in our lives. What is the real meaning in life? To know God and enjoy him forever. The gospel needs to root our identity in the finished work of Christ - the work that affirms that even though I am a broken mess of sin, I am also absolutely loved, valued, and empowered by the God of the universe.
As we root our identity in Christ - anchor our souls in his approval of us based on his finished work for us - we will then be free to serve others and not use them. We will do good for them simply because we want to share the good God has already done. We will be free to work for good simply because it glorifies the God who restored good to a broken world through the work of his Son. We can do it to love God and love people, instead of doing it as a subtle form of self love.
We need to keep serving others - fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves and working for social good. We just need to make sure our hearts are in the right place - otherwise all the work we do will be, at best, of temporary good. At worst, it won't do any good at all - it will only serve to give us a false sense of value in a vast, empty sea of purposeless boredom.
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