As the Bible states, injustice and inhumanity are not acceptable to God:
- You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost.1
- You people are in for trouble! You have made cruel and unfair laws that let you cheat the poor and needy and rob widows and orphans.2
The Bible presents high standards for uprightness, love, compassion, humanity and care:
- How blessed is he who considers the helpless3
- Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble4
- Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.5
- If anyone is poor among your fellows, don’t be hard-hearted. Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need.6
God’s unchanging call throughout history has been for the practice of fairness, altruism, solidarity, sensitivity, empathy, compassion and benevolence. His call is for the brokenhearted to be bound up, for those who grieve to be comforted7, for the disadvantaged to be taken care of.
Today the world is in crisis and people are hurting in countless ways. Many are those who are distressed and struggling without one empathic look, one word or deed of sympathy.
The religion of Christ is about love and compassion for “our neighbors”. It is about identifying our interests with those of humanity and supporting people in their needs independently of their culture, color or creed.
Isn’t it what the world most needs, in a time where losses, fears, stresses, illnesses, economic challenges and social disconnection are at such levels?
– A CALL TO CARE
References:
Ezechiel 34:4 - NIV Isaiah 10:1-2 - CEV Ps 41:1 – NASB 1995 Isaiah 58:10 - NLT Isa 1:17 - NLT Deut 15:7-8 - NLT Isa 61:1-3 - NIV
