when slaves to sex try to free those in sex slavery

One thing that has started motivating me to stay away from pornography is recognizing the ties it has with sex trafficking. Pornography fuels the demand for sex. It trains the mind to believe that sex should be readily available, that as long as it gives us pleasure it can be abused, and that men and women are nothing but bodies to masturbate in.

When slaves to sex try to free those in sex slavery, you make no progress. The people you've "rescued" have no place to go other than right back into the system that demands more sex, tracing its steps back to those days you hide out in your room browsing porn sites.

How can we desire or expect to free boys and girls from sex slavery when we ourselves are slaves to sex? How can we expect to free those who would give anything to not have sex with strangers night after night, when we ourselves throw away our relationships and good use of our time to spend hours searching for sex on the Internet? How twisted is that?

We have become mindless creatures, slaves to our sexual drives. Slaves who could be free, but choose not to. Slaves who are so blinded by their own petty lusts that they can't see those who are physically enslaved by an increasing demand for sex.

How can I be okay with this? How can I ignore the link between my own sin and the oppression of a child here in the US or in another part of the world? How can I give my mind over to something that's not real while real people are being sold into real pain to satisfy a real repulsive desire similar to my own?

I want to see men and women who are not mastered by sex. Men and women who are disciplined and by the Holy Spirit are able to control their cravings. Men and women who are free from their own various poverties (physical, emotional, spiritual) and are equipped to set others free in the name of Jesus.

I want us to gain a larger perspective of the consequences of our sin and take responsibility for it. Jesus has already provided the redemption for our sins; let's throw off everything that hinders (Hebrew 12:1) and join Him in the redemption of everything else that's such a mess in this world.

why you have to keep leaning into cynicism

“I am a great cynic.” 

Would you believe those words came from someone who advocates on behalf of the poor and the oppressed on a daily basis? Believe it or not, there are days when even the ones telling you to have hope for the end of poverty have trouble believing it themselves!

Cynicism is hard to avoid when there’s so much injustice in the world and it seems like it’s not going away. We have the statistics to prove that we are making definite progress, but when you’re still face-to-face with evil, it all seems so much bigger than any numbers could tell you otherwise.

I had the chance to sit down with Jayme Cloninger, Manager of Public Policy with Feed the Children, a faith-based nonprofit providing hope and resources for those without life’s essentials. At 24, Jayme describes herself as a “human rights and social justice activist” and a “faith-driven, passionate dreamer.”

To be completely honest, I was fairly intimidated by her passion and intensity! When I asked her how she addresses the cynics around her, it was a pleasant surprise to hear that there are days when she is in fact one of them.

“There are days where I am a great cynic,” Jayme told me. “It is overwhelming. Do I actually believe hunger will ever end?... I’ve seen things that are terrible and perpetuate incredible injustices and exploitation, that take the lives of so many innocent people and basically wreak havoc and Hell on earth.”

Is injustice a glimpse of Hell on earth? For Jayme, injustice is how we experience Hell everyday. And if it’s all around us, how do we experience hope? By remembering that there is also Heaven – the kingdom of God is near, and in that promise we find redemption and hope.

“This is where I stay really close to the Christian faith because of the role of Christ, as a believer in Jesus Christ and the life that He led,” Jayme said. “Jesus is someone who interacted with cynicism everyday, interacted with an unjust system – He exploited Himself on the cross for that! Because He dove deep into that, He was able to redeem it.”

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He came across people who doubted His authority, His power and His love. How could someone who appeared as lowly as Him possibly be the Messiah they had been waiting for? Even when they saw hope face-to-face – they saw Him heal their diseases, cast out demons, raise the dead to life, and touch the unloved – they let their cynicism overcome what they saw with their own eyes. Even Jesus’ disciples doubted Him! And when Jesus was crucified and darkness surrounded, cynicism peaked and all hope seemed lost.

Can we relate in our own cynicism about the end of extreme poverty? Then let’s remember the next chapter in the story – the resurrection of Christ. Many cynics were silenced then!

Photo: Jayme Cloninger with a little girl in the Philippines. 

“I’ve seen realistically the power of the resurrection,” Jayme said. “I’ve seen it in the Philippines, I’ve seen it in Mozambique, I’ve seen it in my own heart, I’ve seen it in my family’s… There are terribly systems, but there is hope.”

No one is beyond the reach of the power of the resurrection of Christ. And if we can believe that, why can’t we believe He can also redeem extreme poverty and injustice? As Christians, we are called to believe this. We are called to hope. But where do we begin? We start right where we are – in the middle of cynicism.

“Because we as Christians are called to live out a life that seeks redemption, we are called to question cynicism,” Jayme said. “We are called to question it on the grounds of hope and on the grounds of redemption… I think the enemy, per say, is cynicism, and I think God is with us in that. I don’t think God leaves us there. A lot of times [cynicism] is where I don’t feel God, but I think that the moments when I don’t feel God is when God is working the most…”

When she said that, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus on the cross, crying out to the Father, “Why have You forsaken me?” It is my belief that in that moment, He could not feel God – He took on our full punishment for sin through separation from God in that moment. But just because He couldn’t feel God with Him, does that mean God was not working? Our whole faith depends on the hope that He indeed was!

In a similar way, cynicism is a hard place to be, but because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we can trust that God is with us and that He is still working. We don’t need to be afraid of cynicism. 

“You have to ask those hard questions that lead you to cynicism,” Jayme continued. “Questions will lead you to cynicism. But it can also lead you to apathy and inaction. But you can’t give up. You have to lean into those really, really hard questions because that’s the only way you’re going to come out of it with hope. You have to lean into the tension to find the hope – you have to. That’s what the role of Christ was in life.”

Here’s the truth: There are many days I’m a cynic. Maybe you are too. But this girl is going to keep leaning into it, and I'm not going to give up and remain in the cynicism – I'm going to come out of it with intense hope that we can end extreme poverty. I pray you’ll keep leaning into it too!


*Photo: A silk dyer in India. Whole families are enslaved in the silk industry, forced to work with toxic dye. Part of the Modern Day Slavery collection by Lisa Kristine. 

the forgotten role of Jesus

Have you ever looked at a group of advocates on the side of the road and gotten an uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach? Or seen a street preacher on the college campus and quickly ducked away, not wanting to be associated with him? Maybe the girl posting all sorts of causes and petitions on her Facebook wall annoys you.

I’m not sure what it is – something about them being too out there, too controversial, too “hippie.” When I get this anxious feeling, it’s often a standoff between “Stop it, you’re way too extreme” and “I wish I had the guts to do what you’re doing.”

Reconciling two different sides of Jesus 

For a lot of Christians, advocacy is the line between the two seemingly opposing traits of a Jesus-follower – leading a peaceful, quiet life vs. standing up for truth, even if it means being in the middle of an uproar. We see these two sides of Jesus, and we are drawn to both but aren’t sure how to reconcile them. He was a man who remained quiet in the face of His accusers (Mark 15:3-5), who respected the law (Matt. 22:21), who tried to keep things quiet and often withdrew to lonely places (Luke 5:14-16), and who urged us to be peacemakers (Matt. 5:9). We also see in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 that we are encouraged to lead a quiet life, and in Romans 12:18 we are commanded to be at peace with everyone as long as it depends on us.

But Jesus was also a man who stirred up controversy (John 8:54-59), who turned old commands inside out (Matt. 5:17-48), who rebuked the evil-doers and hypocrites (Matt. 23:13-39), who cursed fig trees and overturned tables (Mark 11:12-25), and who said He did not come to bring peace but a sword (Matt. 10:34). We are told in Romans 12:1 to not conform to the patterns of the world and in Acts 5:29-42, we see the apostles preach the Gospel, even when authorities told them to stop and persecuted them.

Seeing advocacy as part of the Christian life 

As Christians, we struggle to reconcile these different aspects of the Christian life, and then you throw advocacy into the mix and we are even more confused. To many of us, advocacy looks like causing a stir, standing up for things that are too extreme, being overly convicted to boycott anything and everything, and talking back to authorities.

But what if we saw advocacy as a part of Jesus’ ministry? What if we could stand up for what is right and be respectful and gentle as we do so? Jesus was the perfect advocate, humble and gentle in heart while bold and truthful at the same time. What if we dared to look at the dictionary definition of advocacy – to plead the cause of another, side with, vindicate, recommend publicly – and compare that to the example Jesus set for us in His advocacy for the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, and the oppressed, the example we see in the heart of the Father?

Advocacy Associate with World Vision, Amanda Mootz, said, “There are thousands of people out there who don’t have a clue, who haven’t heard that advocacy is a part of God’s heart – that justice is a part of it, and justice requires advocacy… We’re not just acting out of a conviction and makeup out of ourselves and trying to convince that person to believe our conviction. We’re looking at what Scripture says, that this is what we are compelled to do based on our identity. So we have something else to point to and to at least start from.”

Amanda went on to say that it might be difficult to convince people to care about, for example, conflict minerals in their phones and the part they play in contributing to unjust systems. But if you treat advocacy as a part of the Christian life, there arises a Christ-like motivation behind it.

“They might not care about what’s in their phones, but what they know how to care about is their spiritual life and their faith life,” Amanda continued. “So if you can start with them in that realm, then you can slowly branch out into understanding that God’s heart is bigger than just their little church world.”

With the corrupt systems of today, advocacy for us includes becoming informed, rooting out the things in our lives that contribute to injustice and even giving up those things and changing our lifestyle.

“We need to have integrity in that we can’t ask the government to do something we aren’t prepared to do ourselves,” said Jason Fileta, president of Micah Challenge USA.

Like any other aspect of our Christian lives, becoming like Jesus in His advocacy role is a process. It is the fruit of our intimacy with Christ and is developed over time.

“Advocacy really is a lifestyle… I love the idea of thinking about advocacy as a spiritual discipline, and that requires sacrifice,” said Jayme Cloninger, Manager of Public Policy at Feed the Children.

We can’t pick and choose which roles of Jesus we want to try on. If we are to pursue Christlikeness, we have to look at the complete person of who He was and strive to be like Him in every way as we continue to abide in His grace every day.

Jesus the Healer.
Friend.
Teacher.
Shepherd.
Servant.
Advocate. 


 *Photo: “Music for the Masses.” CC image courtesy of CoreForce on Flickr.

hungry every morning

I'll admit, I've been avoiding this blog, avoiding sitting long enough to think. I figured if I did, I could ignore whatever is going on in my head and my heart. But as I learn again and again, the way I process is through writing, and without it, I become a restless jumbled up mess.

Here's one thing I've been processing:

A month-long conflict that I've had with someone close to me ended on a good note recently and initially, all I could think was, "Wait, that's it? It's over just like that?" How could something so intensely difficult for what feels like months come to an end in a matter of 24 hours?

Throughout the conflict, I begged daily for God's peace, but it never came. I held out hope that eventually it would come before the end, that God was doing something I couldn't understand and He would give me His peace when the time was right -- and then suddenly the conflict was over, and it was "too late" for that peace to come in the midst of conflict. Why? Doesn't He promise peace? Doesn't it not count if it comes once the conflict is over because then there are multiple variables involved?

But looking back, I do remember small moments of peace; they came every now and then. I failed to see them because I expected this long, drawn-out peace throughout it all. But had that happened, would I have begged for it daily?

This past Sunday at church, the pastor took apart the Lord's prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). For the line, "Give us our daily bread," he highlighted that Jesus says our daily bread, not our monthly bread, not our yearly bread. Our daily bread. 

He explained the importance of this by using an example of him and his son. Every morning, his young son crawls onto his (the father's) bed, pokes him repeatedly in the face and asks, "Can we go downstairs? I'm hungry." Can you imagine if the son came to his father once a month, or once a year, to ask for food? The son wouldn't need the father all the other days!

God will never let us get to the point where we don't need Him. We need to live in dependency on Him from day to day. He provides from day to day. Even if it's only in small portions.

Those small moments of peace were obviously enough to get me through the day, because I'm here now. Those small moments and the lack of the big moments kept me coming to Him every morning.

"Father, will You feed me this morning? I'm hungry."

thanks-giving, days 4-6: friends, co-workers, governments and kings

November 4: I am thankful for New Life Downtown, the nice lady that sat next to me, and our wonderfully insightful pastor. I am thankful for last-minute hot tubbing escapades with good friends!

November 5: I am thankful for my co-workers at 58:, getting to write about the things I am passionate about, downtime, choir festivals and an amazing singer for a little brother.

Photo credit: Jonathan Bell

November 6: I AM SO THANKFUL ELECTION SEASON IS OVER. I am blessed to live in a country in which we the people have a voice, something so many victims of injustice do not have. I am thankful for another four years to continue reaching out to President Obama and asking him to be faithful to the promises he makes, especially the address he made toward ending human trafficking. I am thankful for opportunities to suffer, whatever that may look like, whenever that may be, no matter how much I may later regret welcoming it. God is sovereign, God is good, and Jesus is King.

thanks-giving, day three: hope, laughter and music

Tonight I am thankful for:

The opportunity to step back from the emotionally heavy environments normally associated with social injustice issues and enjoy a chill night among like-minded people at Pikes Perk for an art benefit and concert that sought to quietly raise awareness for human trafficking.

I enjoyed reclining on the couches at Pikes Perk, listening to live music from a local band playing music by Josh Garrels, Gungor and Glen Hansard, looking at beautiful collage art, talking with a woman from the Human Trafficking Task Force of Southern Colorado, and laughing with friends who took turns reading aloud awkward excerpts from Preparing for Adolescence by Dr. James Dobson, a book we found lying around the coffeehouse.

Hope, laughter and music are such good medicine.

his grace still stands

I wrestle enough with the concept of God's grace. Acknowledging it is difficult, accepting it is hard, and trusting it feels sometimes impossible. I'm finally at a place where I'm starting to ease into the Father's arms. Sometimes I can even believe He's actually embracing me instead of what I tend to think -- that He's shaking His head, looking down on me and saying, "I'm not pleased with you. How can you think that I am?" I'm starting to believe His grace is sufficient to cover over all my sins, even the deliberate, pre-meditated sins of addiction.

Right now, God is leading me through a valley of confusion, of sorrow and of testing. I am filled with a deep longing for things to be resolved; I am chasing after truth and it seems I can never grasp it. What do you when you're confronted with the big questions of life? The big controversies of the Bible, the hot topics of today?

What do you do when people diligently following Jesus are divided, one half believing one thing and the other believing another? How do you reconcile that? We're all looking at the same pages, aren't we? Those who believe are all filled with the Holy Spirit, correct? So why are we coming to so many different conclusions? How can God be pleased with both parties if one believes something is a sin and the other doesn't?

And what happens if I fall into the group that is wrong? What if all this time I've told my heart to rest and ease into the Father's arms, He really is pushing me away because I've interpreted His Word inaccurately? What if all this time I've been an oppressor?

I come to my Father each morning, seeking Him, sitting in silence before Him, reading His Words, and praying He's there with me. But there's fear that because of this confusion and questioning of what the truth is in His Word and where I stand on these issues, He's not very happy with me. He's actually quite furious.

Exhale.

If God's grace extends so far as to cover my most vulgar sins, surely His grace covers my confusion, my brokenness and my questioning. Surely He sees my yearning for truth despite a lack of definite discernment for it right at this moment.

I'm starting to see that my Father isn't so much concerned with how accurate my discernment of what sin is but rather with my attitude toward Him, my availability to the convictions of His Spirit, my thirst for righteousness, and my intimacy with Him. Isn't that what He's always been interested in? That is not an excuse for not exercising judgment or wisdom, because a right relationship with Him brings about an eagerness to learn His ways.

I'm saying that His grace is sufficient for the things that I can't understand right now, the answers I can't find, the issues I can't form definite conclusions on based on His Word -- and that is okay. He desires that I hunger for truth, not necessarily that He reveal it to me all at once.

Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. (Psalm 25:8-9)

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:21-26)

Wake me up with patience I don't know. Call me by a name that I lack. Take my hand -- we're almost home, we can see the fire glow. Save me, Grace. I'm sick of saving face. Will You hold me close? You're all I want to know anymore. Desperate love has got me where You want. I surrender -- take me to the place we can start. (Flyleaf, "Saving Grace.")

Thanks-giving, day two: I am thankful for holiday parties with new friends, laughter, hot apple cider and the wonderful feeling of community.