WEDNESDAY'S WORD - ENORMITY - Sadell Bradley 07/08/2020

WEDNESDAY'S WORD

ENORMITY

Sadell Bradley

07/08/2020

"No one doubts the enormity of the social challenges we face around the world but one critical element of our response must be the generation of new thinking and ideas. Yet creating the conditions that make this possible is not simple." -Simon Mainwaring - Businessman

"No one doubts the ENORMITY of the social challenges we face around the world..." So true. I've been a part of addressing them inside and outside of the Church for decades. Still, I've not begun to grasp their ENORMITY - the great or extreme scale, seriousness, or extent of something perceived as morally bad or wrong; a grave crime or sin. The word originally meant deviation from legal or moral rectitude (correct behavior/thinking; righteousness); a transgression. The travesties of racial, social, and economic injustice have been around for thousands of years, across the entire world. Caste systems, elitism, colorism, apartheid, Jim Crow, etc. have desecrated the moral fiber of countries, and divided their citizens. Just reading the bottom word in the pyramid, "Untouchable," the lowest caste in India, brings sorrow to my heart. Why do we struggle so to value and embrace each other's humanity? Gratefully, Jesus' Kingdom turns the systems of this world upside down, and He challenges our notions of what's possible.

"We are afraid of the enormity of the possible." - Emil Cloran "The the world is full of zanies and fools, Who don't believe in sensible rules and won't believe what sensible people say. And because these daft and dewey-eyed dopes keep building up impossible hopes, impossible things are happening every day." That's what the fairy godmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella told the pauper-princess, who didn't have a chance to become the prince's chosen love. She wasn't the first to say, "It's possible!" God told Abram that he and Sarai would have a child in their old age, asking them, "Is anything too difficult for the LORD?" (Gen. 18:14) The prophet Jeremiah, prophesied, "Behold, I am the LORD the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?" (Jer. 32:27)

IT'S POSSIBLE.

"With men, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible." That's what Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 19:26. Just at the idea that a wealthy person would be willing to forsake their riches and give them to the poor to receive greater treasure in Heaven seemed impossible. Mankind's greed and thirst for power and fame appear to be an enormity more powerful than God sometimes. But God can change anything and anyone at a moment's notice. He can turn the hearts of kings and make them obey His will. He can right what's wrong, restore the disenfranchised, and reconcile the divided. If I really believe that's true, I must focus my attention not on my/our scarcities and inabilities, but on the ENORMITY and abundance of God's possibilities.