+ The Good Life

The Bible’s Repeated Calls to Care for the Poor

I have made a commitment to read through the texts of scripture in my devotional life, taking careful note of the Bible’s repeated calls to care for the poor.  I will also want to read several books each year by authors who help inform me on the needs of the poor and prepare me to be more responsive to them. 

Faith and Works

I believe there are plenty of secular foundations and government organizations that are funding things like the Red Cross and other humanitarian agencies.  Although I feel good about so many great service they are providing and I want to cooperate with their efforts;  I have, nevertheless, seen that only a small amount of people are free to support uniquely Christian agencies.  That is why I want to be involved in causes that are thoroughly Christian and that integrate spiritual and physical support together.   It seems to me that this is the kind of ministry in which Jesus engaged.

The Gospel’s Call

After being a part of a tele-conference study on global poverty with men from around the country, I have come to better appreciate the fact that poverty is an issue that many thoughtful Christians truly do care about.  But we need to take time in our schedules to deliberately think about the conditions of poverty, if we are to be mindful of the Gospel’s call.  The developed western world has been buffered from views of abject poverty, and we seldom confront the realities of poor children being raised in communities caught in endless cycles of desperate poverty.  Our day to day life is often sanitized and separated from the despair of poverty.  Taking time to consciously commit to concentrated reflections on the needs of the poor and the commands of God—and doing this together with other Christians—is a vital way to stir my soul from the doldrums of unintended apathy, and make me more aware of the Spirit’s stirring.

Faith and Works

I made a commitment of my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ at a summer camp when I was 16.  I remember getting a copy of The Way when I got back home.  It was a translation of the Living Bible packaged for teenagers.  I started reading it with great enthusiasm and using a check off sheet in the front  when I completed each chapter.  My Bible became increasing threadbare as I jumped around to different texts through the year, checking off my reading as I went along.

When I got to the book of James I was blown away: 

“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?” (James 2:14)

Someone told me that James over-emphasized works and that I ought to read Paul.  So I read Galatians.  In Chapter 5 I read these words: 

“The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love.” (Galatians 5:6)

Ever since that time, I have had a preference for action above talk.  Once again James says,

 “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”  (James 1:27)

Happy New Year

I would greatly appreciate your prayers as I prepare to head out to Africa on January 7^th.  Joy to you and yours in the New Year!