Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Love With Actions and In Truth

Poverty quickly grows evil, twisting into torture we can't comprehend.

That thought went through my head tonight as I sat in on the International Justice Mission Briefing here in Dallas. We were walked through the steps IJM navigates to pull people out of torturous situations brought on by the despair of poverty.

Earlier in the day I received the email from Shaun with details about what Compassion International wanted us to blog about today. The theme - poverty. The IJM Briefing was excellent in helping me realize what Compassion helps families avoid.

Compassion International helps children avoid the terrors IJM fights daily. Both organizations are careful to make sure their actions speak louder than their words.

James 2:15-17
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

I John 3:17-18
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Compassion teams with local ministries and churches to put actions into their words. Children are being released daily from the grips of poverty by caring people in their neighborhood. It isn't foreigners coming into a village and taking over. We get to be a part of it by sponsoring children involved in the neighborhood programs. We get to help break the poverty cycle.

And we get the sweetest letters ever from the most beautiful children ever.

How can the love of God be in us if we sit back and do nothing?

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