Something To Belong To

I'm always annoyed to hear about more protests on the news. Then begins the slew of angry, argumentative conversations and pictures on Facebook. Jon and I saw the beginnings of the Wall St. protest and really half of the people there had no idea what was going on, that was obvious.

I'm not the most informed person when it comes to politics, I'll admit that. What becomes frustrating is people's entitlement and need to complain without action. Protests are a form of action but if you're upset about how banks handle things, take your money out, keep your money in a jar buried in your backyard. When did people start continually supporting mediocrity or anything less? Words mean nothing, action means everything. By the way, where do all those protesters get their poster boards, markers, and blue tarps for sleeping in a park to protest with?

There's me on my soapbox. To my point....

After my initial reactions of frustration I start to sadly realize people are dying to belong to a cause. On the surface we can say we're protesting greed, which might be true, but in reality we want to belong to something that makes a difference. We don't like how things are going and we want to help make a change for the better so we jump on the first bandwagon idea.

I know God created us to have a longing for him and when we refuse to be in a relationship with him we search to belong to something. It starts with easy things like groups at school or work, then it moves into larger scale gatherings such as the political protests, but no real action or change happens because I believe people are focused on the wrong things. They are chasing after futile outcomes. Now I know it can be argued the civil rights movement has had a lasting effect and to a point I agree. Things are still very imperfect among races but what if instead of spending time on protests we spent time seeking after God? Seeking to love each other as God loves us? Would there be any need for protests against how people are treated? If instead of spending hours on a street corner protesting greed we all took a look at how we are spending the resources God has entrusted us with and start using those to serve each other.

The world is imperfect and even if we spent our time seeking after God there would still be problems. That's just life as it is. I really do believe more change, more transformation can take place if we spent our time radically living a life Jesus has called us to live and less time protesting the evil things in this world.

*Side note: I'm not looking to argue with people on specific topics of protests. I am willing to read respectful comments and/or disagreements on the idea of wanting to belong to something.