"When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed."
- Mother Theresa
My friend, Tara, passed that quote along to me. WOW. Man, that's convicting... I'm in the middle of trying to figure out how I need to respond to this concept -- how am I to live my life in light of this? Because it's not just some great quote from Mother T; correct me if I'm wrong, but this concept seems to be pretty much in line with the heart of God:
James 1:27
James 2:15-26
1 John 3:17
Isaiah 58:10-11
Psalm 146:5-9
Luke 3:10-11
Matthew 25:31-40
Acts 2:42-47
But here's the thing, there's also this nice little scripture in 1 Corinthians 13 that says,"If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing." This scripture seems to imply that it's possible to "...give that person what he or she needed", but from completely wrong motives (i.e. without love). I'm not suggesting that the possibility of action springing from wrong motives should demobilize us, I'm just recognizing that the heart of the matter starts with my heart in the matter.
"How can you worship a homeless Man on Sunday and ignore one on Monday?" There's a great story behind this quote, involving Shane Claiborne (best known for his book The Irresistable Revolution) and his experience with homeless folks who were living in an abandoned church. Definitely worth checking out. Also, my friend Sue D. raises some great points along these lines in her blog entry entitled, "Prayer Summit."
Thoughts?
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