Eliminating extreme poverty with compassion and justice
When I was young, Jim Reeves used to sing a song with the words:
“This world is not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore”
Now, I understand what the songwriter was trying to say, but I can’t say that I agree with him. This world IS our home and we have the opportunity of making it a better place for future generations.
Peoples of Britain circa 600 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Immigration is a hot issue in the United Kingdom right now. Some time ago I picked up a copy of the Daily ? (a paper that I don’t normally read) and the story on the front page was going on about immigrants and basically implying that we should pull up the drawbridge and prevent any further immigration into our already “overcrowded Island”.
Turning to page 20 (or thereabouts) was an article about how the world economic crisis had affected Dubai and how “poor” British “settlers” were suffering from the economic fallout.
Probably the two journalists did not meet to discuss how they should handle the situation. But why are migrants to the United Kingdom demonised and called immigrants (a word with all sort of connotations) whilst British migrants to other countries were treated sympathetically as settlers? [Read more...]
Desperate thirst
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
(Matthew 5:6 NIV)
I have never known true physical hunger, but I am well aware that millions of children go to bed every night desperately hungry. My life has never been threatened by thirst, but I can well imagine that thirst becomes the overriding priority of a man crossing a desert.
Mother Theresa found joy by giving her life
It is good to give. It marks us out as different from the animals. We are made in the image of God, and He is a God who loves to give. We have a deep-rooted desire to give. That desire can be drowned by the cares of life and it is so easy to forget the joy of giving and harden our hearts to those in need through indifference and self-interest.
If we come across a fellow human-being in great need, there are a number of responses we make.
Defending or demonstrating his power?
Do we need to defend our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do we need to defend our moral standards? Does God need defending against those who don’t believe in him, or is God perfectly able to defend Himself?
We are called to let the Kingdom of God rule in our own lives and extend his Kingdom in the world around us until, “The earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea”. In seeking to bring more of God’s kingdom in the society in which we live we are meant to put our faith into action and lead by example rather than seek to impose our moral standards on our fellow human beings.
Everyone wants to feel accepted. There is a deep need to be accepted by other people, spouses, family, friends, colleagues and society. Yes, we need love, but we also need the respect and acceptance from those around us. We need to know too that God accepts us just as we are, unconditionally. We should accept other people too, particularly people who are different, and celebrate our differences, not despise them. But first of all we must learn to accept ourselves and then we will be free to accept other people. [Read more...]
“LOVE WITHOUT JUSTICE IS SENTIMENTALITY
JUSTICE WITHOUT LOVE IS LEGALISM.”
For many years the strap line for Kingscare (the former name of Karuna Action) was, “God’s love in action”. Love is voluntary, and is an excellent motive for giving.
Christine and I have recently joined a local choir and have been preparing hard for a Christmas concert. The choir is a secular choir but many of the pieces we sing are ‘Christian’ in nature. One such song starts as follows:
‘Tis the season for giving,
‘Tis the season for joy,
‘Tis the season to celebrate life,
To stop and remember love. [Read more...]
Homeless woman in Toronto. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
How do we please God? Do we please God by religious observances or is God more interested in how we treat our fellow human beings? This is not a rhetorical question. God loves each man, woman and child on the earth – and he wants us to do the same.
The Bible makes it very plain that unless our actions match up to our words, we can deny ourselves, beat ourselves, and starve ourselves to no avail. The way we treat our neighbours, our communities and people throughout the world is vitally important. Unless we stand up for justice, treat our workers correctly and feed the hungry we cannot hope to please my creator, God. Unless we show compassion to, and love those around us, who we can see, we cannot claim to love God. [Read more...]
Mother Theresa
We may say that we love God, but is it just words? Love involves action, so how do we actively express our love for Him? How can we be sure that our love for God is not just a religious or emotional feeling?
Jesus told a story in which he clearly shows us that our love for our fellow-man is received by Him as love for Himself. How amazing is that? As we show compassion towards those in need, we can be really loving God.
There is a warning too. Indifference to the needs of the poor, or sick, or homeless is indifference towards God. We cannot say that we love God, and at the same time, be indifferent to the needs we see around us. [Read more...]
