“Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.”
Psalm 82:3
This message is short and simple. God commands us throughout the bible, both in the Old Testament and the New, to take care of the poor and the oppressed. He commands us to offer our strength to the weak, our money to the poor, our love the orphan, and our support to the oppressed. There are no grey areas, there are no ifs ands or buts. There is an absolute command, not qualified by any set of requirements or standards, to take care of these people.
Whoever you are, whatever your socioeconomic status, your race, your gender, your political values, if you are a Christian, you must be committed to defending these people: the poor, the powerless, the widows, the orphans, the oppressed. It’s just not negotiable. You can scour the bible up and down and sideways and you will not ever find a reason to neglect, reject, or ignore any of such people.
Please understand this: it is the responsibility of the Church, the body of Christ, to meet the needs of all of these people to the fullest of our ability. The rampant oppression and poverty as well as the overwhelming number of orphans around the world, and even within our country, is an indication that the Church has a lot of work to do. We are each responsible for it. Not at a large corporate level, not at an organizational level, but at a personal level. Every single one of us.
Unfortunately, if you disagree, you stand in direct opposition to Jesus. I pray that you will allow the word of God to inspire you, to move you to action, and to lead you toward compassion. I pray that we will all, together, bear this burden for the sake of God’s kingdom. Please, don’t ignore the call that God has charged you with. It is ours to bear. Together with Christ, we can do the impossible. We can change this world. It starts with you. It starts with me. Let’s start today.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
I pray that care for the poor and oppressed would cease to be a topic of dissension and contention in the Church and in the world. I pray that we would no longer relegate these responsibilities to companies and charities and governments, but that we would all commit our lives, personally, to this cause. Help us to show the world your great mercy and love by the way that we love others.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
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