I recently sat and watched the sunset over the roofline of my neighbourhood, the repeated brick and mortar jungle I live within. In the shadow of a day drawing closed I pondered and looked on as those around me returned home - mothers, tradesmen, students, businessmen and grandmas. All with their own lives, their own thoughts, and their own stories.
Their exposure to the outside world was short-lived as their garage doors of security seduced them into another night of subculture living. A world within a world, a place where each person reigns as king, each with their own rules and beliefs. A place of love and life, a place of hope and nurture, a place of understanding and freedom… or so I would hope.
I came to realise that no one really knew what had been happening in the lives of those living in the houses around them, and no one seemed to dare indulge themselves in the lives of others. It was like there was an unwritten law that said, ‘only worry about yourself don’t engage with those around you.’ It saddened me and it made me want to change it.
Life is short
The truth is, life is a short breath in the lungs of eternal existence, and it is the choices we make in this short breath that defines our eternity.
Society may tell us to only worry about ourselves, and care about the now. But Jesus doesn’t. He calls us to be selfless rather than selfish and to focus on eternity. He calls us to live a life focused on others.
People matter to Jesus, and if people matter to Him, they should matter to us.
It should matter that in our neighbourhoods, sounds of laughter juxtapose sounds of screaming, and cries for attention are drowned by the need for success. It should matter that people return from work without any care to engage with those around them. It should matter that the eternities of those in our lives may be heading in the wrong direction.
We cannot turn a blind eye to the downward spiralling script played out in the lives of those around us. We must stand for what we believe and show an alternate way of living.
We must be living examples of love, acceptance, inclusion, and purpose.
We must stay strong to our Godly convictions and true to the Word of God. We must act now before it is too late. We must share Jesus with those in our world.
I pray that our lives become testaments to who God is and that our actions are followed by the fourth-coming generations. I pray that our words of hope will allow God to break chains of despair and instil love into a hurting world. I pray that people will matter to us.
Reuben Skewes is an Australian pastor’s kid by birth, a graphic designer by trade and a husband and father by choice. He spent many years working with troubled teens, served as a pastor in his local church and currently is pioneering new ways to combine mission and technology to share Jesus.