It says to defend the causes of the poor. This doesn’t say to separate yourselves from the poor. Titus 1:16- To know God means to do His will.ĭo you see this truth coming full circle? If we really want to know God and be blessed, we should do what Christ did….what God desires….by defending the cause of the poor. James 1:22- We should do what God’s word says. Jeremiah 22:16- Defending the cause of the poor is what it means to know the Lord. John 13:37– If we serve the way Christ did, we will be blessed if we do those things. John 10:37 – Jesus lived out his life doing what God does. Maybe it’s time we stop focusing on ourselves and start devouring God’s word to see what it says about His heart for the world:
Maybe that’s why so many of us are depressed, stressed out, lonely and discontented. Ironically, the truest form of joy and peace come from offering our bodies as sacrifices for the advancement of God’s kingdom. We give little time to the passages that speak of self-denial and sacrifice for the good of others for the sake of the Gospel. We tend to feed on the passages that reference God’s blessings….His provision for us if we have enough faith, His mercies that are new for us each morning, His peace for us in hard times, etc. We refuse to educate ourselves on the more than 2,000 verses in Scripture about God’s heart for the poor, the needy, the widow and the orphan.
Have we, as the American church, forgotten who we are? Over time we become more concerned about our needs more than the needs of others.” But if we are truly reading the Word of God and not putting feet to the truths embedded within, we are like the man in James 1:23-24 who, after reading God’s Word and remains passive, is like a man who looks at himself in a mirror and then walks away, immediately forgetting what he looks like. today, especially the larger they get, become like country clubs rather than spiritual hospitals. Todd Phillips quotes in his study Get Uncomfortable that “many churches in the U.S. That to me doesn’t sound like self-help it sounds more like self-denial. We have taken Christianity and turned it into a self-improvement program instead of living as we were instructed: to take up our cross and follow Christ. Unfortunately, the Church has allowed itself to reflect the American culture of our day and has forsaken the perspectives that God has called us to maintain as believers. But not only is our country consumed with material goods, food, wealth and assets, we are wrapped up in our love of SELF. Seems as though excess isn’t necessarily a good thing.
By Lori Resmer | Team Coordinator of Journey 117Īmerica is one of the richest countries in the world….and one of the most obese.
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