Today I was invited to attend a luncheon with my friend Brenda at the Governor’s Mansion.  The First Lady was there along with about 20 other professional business people from our community.  We gathered for a good cause.  It was for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.  I met some nice people and learned a lot.

But it got me thinking about the many causes that we can give ourselves to.  As women, we seem to have an abundant supply of the compassion gene.  Which is a wonderful and blessed thing.

Lately though, I’ve been keeping an eye on my own teenagers and the growth of their compassion for others, and their felt need to be a part of something bigger than they are.

There is such a thing as a good cause, but I believe there is also something which can be a God-cause.

How do we grow to discern the difference?  I think maturity tells us what to bleed for. Sometimes that maturity comes from the hard-earned experience of bleeding for causes that, in the end, didn’t make the impact on the world we anticipated they would.

Working in a church, I am privy to many causes that come along.  Worthy, worthwhile causes that can potentially change people’s lives.  Just in the past few months at Capital Christian Center alone, we have been in support of Food for Thought (feeding the children of our city), Go Red for Women (heart health), Advocates to End Domestic Violence, Beyond Us Offerings (funding missions and various endeavors for Christ), Relay for Life (cancer research), and currently Big Brothers/Big Sisters, just to name a few.   Some of us sponsor children through Feed the Hungry.  We help dig wells for clean drinking water in Africa.  We want to educate people and buy books for students who cannot afford an education.  Needs arise, people cry out for help, and we always want to do all we can to ease suffering. It’s right and good that we help.  God gives us His Spirit of love and compassion. But when the needs are so prevalent, how do we know the difference between a good cause and a God-cause?

I think a God-cause is what you are personally called of God to do.  It’s different for each and every one of us.  Our God is that big and that diverse, and He gives us such freedom to be who we are, touching the people in our own circle of influence.  He does not put us in a box.  He does, however, show is what love looks like, by displaying it for us.

There’s a great book by Brian Houston, Pastor of Hillsong, called “For This Cause”. In it,  he states, “Jesus Christ knew who He was and what the purpose of His life was.”  He also knew He was here to die.  His whole life was summed up in one powerful statement. In John 18:37 Jesus declared, “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world.”

Without knowing your God cause, it is possible to be pulled in so many directions and have your resources so scattered that you feel like you make little difference to anyone.

But I do know this: You and I were put on this earth to make a difference!  You were not an accident, and the people God has placed in your life are there for a reason.

I hope you’ll join me in this discussion this week.  Let’s talk about your God-cause. And if you’re not sure what it is yet, let’s talk about that too.  I’m so grateful I don’t have to figure it out alone and that you are in my world.  Love you!