There has got to be a better way. We Americans have gotten side tracked into letting our government be our charity workers - and they STINK at it. Not surprising - it's not what government does well.
Mind you, I DO think correcting the political error is important and I am all for Christians being involved politically. But, it's a free country, last I looked - so I see no need to wait for political change to change ourselves.
Churches have gotten into the same bad habit we let government get into - tossing money at problems instead of touching others. Heck, we actively discourage it - after all, some of 'those' people aren't nice, sane, clean, <insert adjective here> , or most importantly SAFE.
We follow a Savior Who leads anywhere BUT to safety in the worldly sense. Jesus would have been a lot safer (and, from a human perspective, saner) to stay up in Heaven, not get His hands dirty and definitely not undergoing a grueling, agonizing, public execution - but that's NOT what He did. He got his hands dirty handling US - who are we not to handle each other?
So while we're paying our taxes and grumbling about governmental failures, it's past time we got busy rolling up sleeves and doing His work - and that does not mean throwing money in the plate or clicking Paypal links to our favorite charities ONLY. It's okay - even good - to use our money to help others but it is not okay or good to use our money to salve our consciences rather than actually get our hands dirty or - horrors - actually talk to 'those' people.
Mind you, I DO think correcting the political error is important and I am all for Christians being involved politically. But, it's a free country, last I looked - so I see no need to wait for political change to change ourselves.
Churches have gotten into the same bad habit we let government get into - tossing money at problems instead of touching others. Heck, we actively discourage it - after all, some of 'those' people aren't nice, sane, clean, <insert adjective here> , or most importantly SAFE.
We follow a Savior Who leads anywhere BUT to safety in the worldly sense. Jesus would have been a lot safer (and, from a human perspective, saner) to stay up in Heaven, not get His hands dirty and definitely not undergoing a grueling, agonizing, public execution - but that's NOT what He did. He got his hands dirty handling US - who are we not to handle each other?
So while we're paying our taxes and grumbling about governmental failures, it's past time we got busy rolling up sleeves and doing His work - and that does not mean throwing money in the plate or clicking Paypal links to our favorite charities ONLY. It's okay - even good - to use our money to help others but it is not okay or good to use our money to salve our consciences rather than actually get our hands dirty or - horrors - actually talk to 'those' people.
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