JUSTICE IS JUST US
Bob Pierce founder of World Vision prayed “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of G.” Tough prayer.
You never know what to expect being a pastor. One day I was called out to help a single mom (not from Cottonwood) with a broken door. The place was… filthy. My levis were dirty, but her sofa was worse, and there was no way I wanted to drink out of one of her glasses. Here’s the deal - I felt used to help someone who didn’t even keep her own place clean. So how’s that fit with our Heart Attitude “I will put the goals and interests of others above my own?”
We should name them, “The Hard Attitudes.”
Are the poor just lazy? Proverbs 23:20, 20:13 says some are poor due to overdrinking, overeating and oversleeping. Must we help them? Is that enabling? How’s your diet coming?
Most of the world’s poor are there for other reasons. Some are poor due to lack of opportunity or education, war, natural disasters, HIV, location, greed/politics, wrong choices, addictions, even choosing poverty to serve God. I wonder if we must to serve all the poor, or can we pick and choose a bit? Could we serve all the poor even if we wanted to?
I remember being in Nogales Mexico visiting folks in a massive squatters village. Homes there are one room huts made from cardboard and tin and whatever else they can find, with dirt floors. Most held one small (twin) mattress with about the room of another twin mattress to walk around. Cooking and bathrooms duties were done outside. Water came from the river/sewer. Visiting one hut I was shocked to see a woman and her four kids from church the day before. Somehow I had always separated those in church from those in the squatter’s village. Odd.
We often say “getting saved” is about giving our lives to Christ. Jesus said He came to “bring good news to the poor.” Luke 4:18. He will one day return and bring justice. But, until then, it’s just us. How well am I following? How much of my life have I given?
Proverbs 19:17 says “If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord— and he will repay you!” Cool. I wonder how.
Bob Pierce founder of World Vision prayed “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of G.” Tough prayer.
You never know what to expect being a pastor. One day I was called out to help a single mom (not from Cottonwood) with a broken door. The place was… filthy. My levis were dirty, but her sofa was worse, and there was no way I wanted to drink out of one of her glasses. Here’s the deal - I felt used to help someone who didn’t even keep her own place clean. So how’s that fit with our Heart Attitude “I will put the goals and interests of others above my own?”
We should name them, “The Hard Attitudes.”
Are the poor just lazy? Proverbs 23:20, 20:13 says some are poor due to overdrinking, overeating and oversleeping. Must we help them? Is that enabling? How’s your diet coming?
Most of the world’s poor are there for other reasons. Some are poor due to lack of opportunity or education, war, natural disasters, HIV, location, greed/politics, wrong choices, addictions, even choosing poverty to serve God. I wonder if we must to serve all the poor, or can we pick and choose a bit? Could we serve all the poor even if we wanted to?
I remember being in Nogales Mexico visiting folks in a massive squatters village. Homes there are one room huts made from cardboard and tin and whatever else they can find, with dirt floors. Most held one small (twin) mattress with about the room of another twin mattress to walk around. Cooking and bathrooms duties were done outside. Water came from the river/sewer. Visiting one hut I was shocked to see a woman and her four kids from church the day before. Somehow I had always separated those in church from those in the squatter’s village. Odd.
We often say “getting saved” is about giving our lives to Christ. Jesus said He came to “bring good news to the poor.” Luke 4:18. He will one day return and bring justice. But, until then, it’s just us. How well am I following? How much of my life have I given?
Proverbs 19:17 says “If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord— and he will repay you!” Cool. I wonder how.
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