The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4: 17-19
I think this passage is a great reminder of the needs that Jesus met. He just spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by Satan and the next thing we see him do is show up the Temple to bring the word. And the word was not “Well done good and faithful Pharisee!” The word was “I am here to help those in need!” Now spiritually speaking we know that is all of us, but Jesus is also talking about meeting physical needs.
Do you want to be used by God, but don’t know what to do? Maybe we should follow Jesus’ example and reach out to those in need. Reach out to the poor, those in prison, the sick, the oppressed, and proclaim the favor of God to all those you can.
Yet we are still told by certain "political pundits" that "social justice" is not in the Bible! Apparently somewhere in their reading they missed Jesus.
ReplyDeleteDon't pay attention to Beck. He's not a Christian, so you really can't blame him for not knowing what's in the Bible. Besides, we as Christians should not look to the government in order to help out the poor. That is the church's job to do.
ReplyDeleteMy concern is that too many of those sitting in the church on Sunday hold the same views as Beck and others like him concerning social justice. Political views and the American Dream have made us think that we don't need to help people out.
ReplyDeleteIf the American Dream is going to cause you to dismiss commands from the Bible, its time to get a new dream!
I don't know if it's too many people holding onto the American Dream or too many "Christians" not knowing ANYTHING about the Bible. If you don't read the Bible, how can you possibly know what it says? If you don't speak to Jesus through prayer, why do you say you have a relationship with Him?
ReplyDeleteI certainly understand people with money not wanting the government to tax them to death and give their money away to the poor. Rich people are not all rich because they are greedy. Most of them are highly skilled and work in jobs where they are not easily replaced. Thus, they deserve to be compensated accordingly. However, rich people in the church, if they truly have a relationship with Jesus, should recognize the unique position they hold and just how many people they can help through the wealth that God has provided them.
I also agree that some of the problem comes from believers not knowing the bible.
ReplyDeleteJeff you and I have had this discussion before and I am not implying that you disagree with me on this point, because I know you don't, I just want to take it a step further. ALL of us in the church need to consider how many people we can help because of what God has provided us. Not just the wealthy.
I think sometimes average income Christians have this feeling that they can't, or shouldn't have to help others out because they are not "rich." It's the whole, I have to take care of my own before I can help others mindset. I think it is wrong to live like that.
Very true David. The average household in America can surely make an impact in the lives of the poor and needy. We ALL need to take a long, hard look at how we spend our time and money. We have been conditioned to believe that we need the biggest and best of every new thing available whether or not we can afford it. Heck, we deserve it right? Wrong.
ReplyDeleteNow, this is not to say that new cars, houses, electronics, etc. are wrong in and of themselves. However, there comes a point when Christians are spending excess money to fulfill their fleshly desires while their neighbors and millions more around the world starve. I'm not sure how you can reconcile those two things.