This one matters.
This boy on the other side of the globe matters to God. He is not a mistake or a statistic. He is a living, breathing child who lives in an orphanage and is in desperate need of a loving forever family to step forward and jump through a million hoops and sign a zillion papers and run a gazillion places to notarize this and authenticate that and fingerprint this and overnight that. Because. He. Matters.
Statistics drive me crazy. They really do. For one, they shift, depending on who is doing the research. And numbers just tend to change over time and according to exact specifications of research. So, let's cut through the chase on this. There are millions of orphans...whether you want to say it's 143 million or 169 million or 190 million or 200+ million...all of which are numbers I've heard. Whatever the number...let's just call it like it is...it's A LOT. And the number of Christians in the world is another statistic that has variables that change, so we won't mess with it. But let's just spotlight one statistic that absolutely hangs in the air like a lead balloon. This is one number that I pray never ever becomes "just a number" to me. I pray it will always hit me square across the face: 7%. Statistics say that if only 7% of the world's Christians would care for ONE orphan, there would effectively be NO MORE ORPHANS. Only 7%.
I cannot ignore that number. I cannot get the dumb thing out of my head!! 7%.
Is the church really that far off here? Really...think on it seriously for just half a minute here. If only SEVEN PERCENT of those who say they follow Jesus would care for ONE orphan, we wouldn't have a single orphan in the world.
And yet, the numbers instead float somewhere in between 143 and 200 MILLION orphans. We technically only need 7% of Christians to show up in order to rid the world of orphans. And I cannot help but to ask, "Where is everyone??"
This has been bothering me for quite some time. The number just flashes in my mind, and try as I may, I cannot explain it away. And I refuse to forget it.
Because it matters to this one...
And this one...
And this one...
And these 2 little guys...
And this one...
And this one...
Just this morning, we were listening to a message from Eric Ludy. He was calling Christians to consecrate their homes to God...giving Him absolute authority in our home, doing whatever He chooses to do with it. And one point he hit on was allowing God to place orphans into our homes, even if it means more work, less control and more sacrifice on our parts. Are we willing to allow God to use our home to be their home? Are we willing to let go of all our agendas and just say, "God, WHATEVER You want, please do in my home"?
Eric Ludy's young son said to him one day, "Dad, if we adopted that orphan, he wouldn't be an orphan any more." Out of the mouths of babes comes the purest truth...so simple and understandable. That one orphan would no longer be an orphan if I adopt her or him. But I have to show up and step out.
It only takes 7% of Christians to alleviate the world of orphans. Cannot just 7% be found to follow Jesus in this?
Or do we honestly truly believe Him when He says that whatever we did not do to the least of these we did not do to Him? Will He one day look us in the eyes and say, "I needed to be adopted, and you did not step forward to take me in"?
