Here is a question to “test” your faith: If a haggard looking soul with sores all over his body and obviously dehydrated and starving to death stumbled up to you; what would you do?
Pull out a Bible and start yelling at him to repent for all the sin in his life which brought upon him all these horrible curses.
Ignore him and let someone else take care of him for you don’t have time to get involved lest you be late to church.
Take him to an Emergency Room to receive evaluation and treatment for medical conditions.
Take him to a shelter for the indigent.
Take him home, feed him, bathe him, share with him the story of Jesus and pray with him.
Why do we make everything so hard? The obvious answer to this question is #5. Yet, obvious or not, the number of Christians who would actually ever do such a thing would maybe be 1 in a thousand. The truth in the matter is that almost every Christian would do exactly what any unbeliever with a little compassion would do, and that is either #3 or #4. Of course a few zealots would do #1, but I don’t want to go on this post lest I never come back.
What do we Christians offer, if we do nothing differently than those in the world for those who are hurting? The typical Christian response to a disaster such as Hurricane Ike is to drop some old clothes off at Goodwill and write a check to the American Red Cross or Salvation Army and move on with life. With conscience appeased and back sufficiently patted for being such a “good person”, the average Christian will go his merry way and never think or pray again about the situation.
Aren’t we supposed to manifest the love and compassion of Christ as Christians? When confronted with need, aren’t we supposed to reach out and help with the love of Christ? Where and how Christianity turned into merely a meeting place for theological discussion is beyond me. Where and how Christianity turned into a building frequented once per week for worship services is beyond me. Where and how Christianity turned into a heartless and dead religion is beyond me.
For the most part, the “Christian Religion” is totally heartless and completely dead. There is basically no life and very little love manifested. There are only motions to be gone through and facades to be put up and hypocritical lies to be told. The “Christian Religion” is merely a convenient front to hide behind, masking the spiritual indifference and dead works of the actor using it to “look good”.
The hearts of many of God’s people have turned cold as ice and hard as rocks. The willingness to give is strictly dependent on how much remains after indulging in everything that appeases the lust of the flesh and of the eyes. Charitable giving is relegated to nothing more than the scraps left over after the feast. Truly the pompous attitude manifested by those who practice the “Christian Religion” is sickening.
Notice all these things I am saying are directed at those who practice the “Christian Religion”. There is little comparison between that which parades around claiming to be Christian and that which is Christianity INDEED. True Christianity loves not in word, but in DEED. True Christianity doesn’t just talk about helping people—it gets out there and does it.
I hate to keep beating a dead fish here, but unless Christians step up and start willingly putting others ahead of themselves all that will be left is Christian religiosity. Anybody can say anything that sounds good and in the process fool many people. But they can never fool themselves and they can never fool God. As Christians, we should willingly and freely give because of the appreciation and love in our hearts for all our Savior did for us.
There is a huge chasm between the branches of Christianity which seek to manifest compassion towards those who are in need and those which seek only to continually bless and take care of themselves. On another site, I was appalled to read someone make the statement that God wants Christians rich so they can impress the unbelievers and win them to Christ.
There are Christians who believe they are on earth to stockpile riches, live in mansions Donald Trump would envy, drive $100,000 cars and spend months each year relaxing on yachts. All the while, they wouldn’t freely give a nickel to anyone unless they got an IRS write off or a building named after them. God may very well bless someone with material wealth, but if it was really God blessing them, He expects the person to SHARE that which He gave with those who need it.
Religion talks about God, Christ and religious things but never lives them or does anything spiritual. Godliness knows God, Christ and spiritual things and lives them. God needs Christians who are Godly not religious. I pray He finds some who are willing to take up His cause and forsaking all, follow Him. There is a world of hurting, angry and confused people out there who, as Steve Green once sang about, “need the Lord”.
spiritual food for thought 