TDW 10-27-09 Drop the Spiritual Platitudes; Just Jump in and Help!

By: Bishop Eddie L. Long
(Drop the Spiritual Platitudes; Just Jump in and Help!)

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. ~ James 1:27

Why do we have this spirit of poverty? We cannot really understand the kingdom until we understand God’s mandate to the body of Christ.

He calls us to minister to the poor, and we must begin that ministry by extending a “relational covering” to broken families. Women suffer a catastrophic loss when their husbands die. In one blow, a woman loses her best friend, her lover, her covenant partner, and her principal source of income and economic security. Suddenly she is left to face an uncertain future alone.

Children who lose a father often wonder if they can trust anything in life. Fear and lack often mark their lives. In one tragic moment, they may have lost all hope of a college education, economic security, and physical safety—in addition to the immeasurable loss of a father’s loving touch, wise counsel, caring ear, and approving smile.

We have an obligation under God to step in and fill these voids with our hearts, our hands, our money, and our time. The inconvenience does not matter. In God’s eyes, these people are family, and we always take care of family. If we fail to cover the exposed hurts, wounds, and hearts of our widows and orphans, then the devil will use their pain and deprivation to keep us from breaking the spirit of poverty.

Empty spiritual platitudes do not satisfy God’s mandate. Do not tell a weary woman who is raising children without a husband in the house, “Oh, but you have a Man! His name is Jesus.” She might shout back, “Yes, I do have Jesus, but I need a man in this house right now to help discipline my children when they disobey! I need someone to help comfort them when they wake up crying in the middle of the night! I need somebody—anybody—to help.”

Sometimes we get so spiritual that we are no earthly good. When we duck our God-given responsibility to widows and orphans, there is no way we can presume to put our feet on the devil’s neck in the authority of Christ. It is time to do what God told us to do.

Prayer

Dear Father, I have been content to live my own life in bliss while ignoring the desperate needs of the widows and the fatherless in my own church. Forgive me for my selfishness and show me practical ways to cover and uplift these precious ones. In Jesus’ name, amen.