You know those times where you feel like God is trying to make a point? When virtually everything you read says the same thing, whether it's the Bible or a book or even the news? He's doing that to me right now. I think it's because I haven't wanted to hear what He's been saying.

I think I've mentioned that my Bible study group is going through a book called, "LORD, I Want to Know You." It's written by Kay Arthur, and it's a study on the names of God. This week we are on Jehovah-rapha, the Lord who heals. Last night I finished a book by Mark Steele called "Flashbang: How I got over myself." This is a must read. It is fall-down-in-the-floor hilarious, but this guy comes back with a knock-out punch at the end of every chapter that reminds you of what we are supposed to be doing in this world, and it's not just sitting back and allowing yourself to be fed. There is a time for that, but that shouldn't be the main goal of a mature believer. We should allow God to feed us, and then take what we've learned to help others grow.

Last week, Monti's story made an impact on me in more ways than one. First, it was an amazing story of how God is completely able to change a life, no matter how far down it's gotten. But on another level, I realized that a huge part of Monti's transformation was the role played by those believers at the Nashville Rescue Mission. These are people living Christ's example by reaching out to the poor and broken down. They are making an impact on this world.

For the past several days, I've been hearing God tell me that I'm too comfortable. It's time for me to start getting messy and allowing others' lives to truly infiltrate mine. It's hard to be really effective from a safe distance. As Kay Arthur put it, "We live in our own world -- undisturbed, uninformed, and untroubled by realities that could demand our concern and attention as God's ambassadors of reconciliation. It is a delight to be an ambassador when you enjoy the notoriety, the privileges, and the niceties of life. But bring on the demands of resolving issues and problems, of confronting the unpleasant and the unjust, and we say, 'You can forget my ambassadorship.'

"We want to be healed ourselves. But we do not want to be involved in others' healing. We don't want our hands soiled. Let us send our money; let us give from afar. Let us hear only enough to motivate us to compassion, not enough to haunt our memories.

"If we are to be God's representatives on earth, manifesting to the world the character of God, if we are to minister rather than be ministered unto, we must search out those who need a physician and become actively involved in healing the wounds of His people."

For most of us, I bet there's not a lot of searching required. We all know people who are struggling, sometimes with more than it seems possible for one person to bear. And we tell them we'll pray for them, and sometimes we even do it. But are we willing to climb into the pit with them and help them out? For far too long, my answer to that has been no.

On Sunday, my small group discussed the overwhelming busyness of life. Is this the way God intended us to live, dropping into bed at the end of the day exhausted from all of life's demands? Of course the answer to that is no. But the cycle seems so hard to break. But God spoke to me this morning that one of the reasons we fill up our days with so much is because it keeps us from having time to really make an investment in someone else's life. Someone who's not related to us. Someone we don't have to look after. If our Enemy can keep us busy enough, then he can make us believe that we're living in a season of life where getting involved with someone else is just not practical. In my life, he's done exactly that.

It's time to change.