Isn't it about awareness? Something about a red X? Some problem third world countries face? Buy a t-shirt, save a girls life in some small tribe in Africa? Didn't Passion do a thing on slavery, or something...?
Because, we, the young, ambitious and self-important college-aged young adults are part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. Let me repeat that, we are part of the problem.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
If you Google searched "Anti Trafficking Organizations" I'm sure you'd find Polaris Project, International Justice Mission, End Slavery Now, THE End it Movement, etc etc... there are literally thousands of organizations that claim to fight to end modern day slavery. Some truly do great work, but a good amount of the ones I've looked into are about funding their own organization, not the rescue of young girls. They want to be advertised, rather than desiring to be effective. They want to be seen, rather than have their work create ripples that echo into every corner of our nation and world.
So, why haven't you REALLY heard about it? Why don't you know the facts?
Because, we, the young, ambitious and self-important college-aged young adults are part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. Let me repeat that, we are part of the problem.
We don't really want to get our hands dirty with the anti-trafficking movement, we just want a t-shirt.
We don't want to sell out completely for the cause of justice and freedom, we want to draw red X's on our hands.
We don't want to let God take over our lives as we seek justice in His name, we want a cool facebook picture with our anti-trafficking student organizations.
We don't want to work for freedom, but we'll want the credit when all is said and done.
We are a part of the problem because we are AWARE, but not really educated.
We are sort of informed, but sort of inactive.
WE KNOW that slavery exists in its ugliest of forms, but we sit back waiting for someone else to step in because we've let society convince us that we don't really need to DO anything.
We are a CHURCH full of believers, who know the love and compassion of our Savior, but we don't see past our own pews. We don't go too far outside our own sanctuaries. We don't love like He loves. We don't eat with prostitutes, we wouldn't be caught dead in a bar or the "wrong" part of town. We are more concerned with how we look than WHO we represent. We sit in our Sunday service and sing our hymns, we talk about Jesus as our faithful provider, and we pray for our lives to be easier or better. There is SO MUCH MORE than our little world that needs prayer. There are people living in emotional chains that need to hear the name of JESUS. It's likely they aren't going to come waltzing into our Churches, so it's about time we take our ministry elsewhere... To where our sisters in bondage are. To where our broken brothers who sell them are. To where we can remember that WE are ALL broken. We are ALL sinners. We are ALL unworthy.
We are a CHURCH full of believers, who know the love and compassion of our Savior, but we don't see past our own pews. We don't go too far outside our own sanctuaries. We don't love like He loves. We don't eat with prostitutes, we wouldn't be caught dead in a bar or the "wrong" part of town. We are more concerned with how we look than WHO we represent. We sit in our Sunday service and sing our hymns, we talk about Jesus as our faithful provider, and we pray for our lives to be easier or better. There is SO MUCH MORE than our little world that needs prayer. There are people living in emotional chains that need to hear the name of JESUS. It's likely they aren't going to come waltzing into our Churches, so it's about time we take our ministry elsewhere... To where our sisters in bondage are. To where our broken brothers who sell them are. To where we can remember that WE are ALL broken. We are ALL sinners. We are ALL unworthy.
Satan loves it. He loves that we are young, capable, informed, silent, inactive, and complacent. He will tell us the most enticing lies and convince us to be quiet. To stay in our little comfort zone, because it just takes too much work to really get involved.
It's okay if we sit back and do nothing.
It's okay if we sit back and do nothing.
Trafficking doesn't "really" happen "here".
Slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation.
There are enough organizations to take care of this, they don't need me to help.
ALL lies. There are 27 million people in slavery today. NOW is the time to get on your knees and pray constantly for justice to be present on this earth. It's not about how sad or brokenhearted we are for these women, though there is value in having a heart that seeks to end oppression. It's not about you and I. It's about our sisters in captivity. It's about the broken girls being sold in our hometowns. It's about the broken men who satan has convinced that it's okay to sell them. The anti-trafficking movement is not about the people in it; it's about the people needing rescue.
1. See how God wants you to be involved in this. Pray for the staff of these organizations, the girls being sold, the girls who have been rescued, and the pimps that sell them. Pray for God to use our generation to be the LAST generation to tolerate slavery within our borders.
2. Do research and learn the facts of what's going on where YOU are. There is a HUGE difference between awareness and education. Awareness is just a fad that will come to an end; education implies time spent seeking the truth behind this social injustice. Become truly educated about the cause and all involved.
3. GET plugged in. Find an organization in your area. Get your home Church informed. Donate to an organization that you KNOW will send the money to the rescue of girls locally.
Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:17
Don't get caught up in the "trend" of the anti-trafficking cause. Do something, or stop talking.
