No, living for Christ is hands-on. It's tangible, and it's often messy because real people are involved. Building relationships and living in community are essential aspects of loving Jesus.
It's carrying each other's burdens, which can be heavy.
It's spurring one another on toward love and good deeds, which can be uncomfortable.
It's pursuing peace and building one another up, which can be hard work.
So here's my point: A true relationship with God shows itself in simple, practical ways.
James 1:27 tells us that religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.
This isn't a suggestion or a nice thought. It's not just a catchy slogan for a trendy t-shirt.
It's also not a "hot topic" to be celebrated and proclaimed on one Sunday a year.
Because what about the orphans on Monday?
And the abandoned, single mothers on Tuesday?
And the widows on Wednesday?
Is one Sunday of attention and prayers enough?
James 1:27 is a command. It requires continual action.
Because what about the orphans on Monday?
And the abandoned, single mothers on Tuesday?
And the widows on Wednesday?
Is one Sunday of attention and prayers enough?
James 1:27 is a command. It requires continual action.
Religion that God sees as blameless requires caring and providing for orphans and widows who are oppressed and afflicted, who are in distress.
(The Greek word here, which we translate as "distress," literally implies "pressure." And, oh, how these young mothers in Uganda are feeling the pressure.)
Do you know what I would love to see happen this "Orphan Sunday"? I would love to see people spreading the message about how to prevent orphans. Not just how to support and care for and adopt them after they've been abandoned, but how to keep children from becoming orphans in the first place...
Maybe it's by sponsoring a family...
Or befriending a single mother and offering love and hope...
Challenging men to step up to be husbands and fathers who protect and provide for women and children...
Or supporting an organization that assists at-risk mothers to raise their babies, like Heartline Haiti or Mercy House Kenya...
So now here is my question: What are you doing to care for the orphans and widows?
Maybe it's by sponsoring a family...
Or befriending a single mother and offering love and hope...
Challenging men to step up to be husbands and fathers who protect and provide for women and children...
Or supporting an organization that assists at-risk mothers to raise their babies, like Heartline Haiti or Mercy House Kenya...
"...it doesn't take much to encourage and cheer on a first mother. We just have to be willing to do it."
So now here is my question: What are you doing to care for the orphans and widows?
"It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God.
Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth.
That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for:
those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship."
John 4:23-24
YES! Obviously I am ok with adoption, I've done it and I've been so blessed by my son...BUT if I could go back and make all right for his world and he could stay with his biological family, I would, because that is what is best for him. We are second best, a choice that should be made only when there is no other way...When evangelicals care for orphans because it is "cool" we are missing the whole point. We are suppose to be caring for the widow before she makes the choice to have to relinquish her children due to poverty. Another great NGO that helps with this is Yezelalem Minch Community Development Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They exist to keep families together and to give help to local unofficial foster families so they can take in children and raise them when it is needed.
ReplyDeleteHi, Shadley! Thank you for your input and sharing your great perspective. And thanks for letting us know about another great organization advocating for families :)
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