Have you ever read a passage of scripture and thought, “I’ve never really read that before.” Well, if you’re like me you’ve probably read it several times but skimmed over it. I’ve been reading a Psalm a day for years, but it hasn’t been until recently that I realized how many verses are about God’s view toward the needy and how He calls us to take action. I can’t believe that I’ve had a relationship with Christ for 17 years, all the while having a huge and blaring blind spot in my life. Many people are dying all around the world because of many injustices. If scripture is filled with God’s heart for those who are oppressed, then why don’t we talk about it…or make it, I don’t know, a priority? That would make sense right? People all over the world are malnourished, enslaved and abused while we live the good life in America. We say love Jesus, but we don’t love like Jesus. He sacrificed everything to reach the world, to meet people’s physical and spiritual needs. What have we been doing? Not that for sure.
I’ve definitely written about this many times, but I have become more and more aware of the need to be awakened to this issue. We don’t talk about it because, well, it’s not comfortable to hear. It’s not pretty. But ignoring these scriptures will cause much more harm than simply us missing out on part of scripture…this effects the world. This effects eternity. Will many die without Christ because I choose to ignore their needs? My eyes have been opened to how much scripture speaks about caring for the poor and doing justice for the oppressed. If God cares so much about us looking after the poor and needy, why aren’t we giving our lives to do something?
So I challenge you to read God’s Word and ask Him to reveal if you have been ignorant to this. Are you blind to what you should be doing with the money you posses? Are you blind to how many people are dying in oppression and injustice? Are you blind to how much God speaks about this issue?
Here are a few of the verses that I’ve been “awakened” to lately:
“He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses.” (Proverbs 28:27)
“The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed.” (Psalms 9:9)
“When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives ro rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.” (Luke 14:12-14)
“By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brother. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart agains him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”(1 John 3:16-18)
“In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:5)
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