As Christian we are related by blood to God, It was the blood of Jesus, our Brother, which sealed the deal however it is we who have been accepted by God as “men and women of God”. There is a social agenda to this relationship and it goes beyond a cosy “Hi-God-it’s- me” conversation and a meeting on a special day of the week. This is because being people of God confers responsibilities that have been inherited from those who have gone before.
Jesus, Himself, confirmed this relationship when, after His desert sojourn He returned to Nazareth on the Shabbat. He stood to read and was passed the scroll of Isaiah, unrolled the scroll to chapter 61 verse 1 and read
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners.
It might be easy to say well that was Jesus calling and mine is something else. The Bible states otherwise for example in Micah 6:8 we find
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
This is a call to live the God Life issued to all people of God, which includes you and me because Jesus validated the Old Testament when He told us that if we are His disciples we would do as He had done.
We need to ask ourselves what would Jesus do about the social injustices and environmental oppression that exist all around us. Do we shrug our shoulders and say what can little old me do. Consider the shepherd David who visited the camp of the mighty Army of the Lord only to find them cowering before an individual called Goliath who delighted in his cursing the name of the Lord. Little David went out without armour but armed with faith and a stone and killed this pagan blot on the Army of the Lord. We can do this too, armed with the enabling of the Lord.
Just recently I discovered that in the state of Victoria that viable babies are being aborted, and have been for the last two years, only to be despatched, not even given the opportunity for life as some other mothers adopted child. Poverty exists in this country as well as overseas. People are being oppressed economically, drugs oppress our youth and adults, adultery and idolatry are both rampant through society as is crime.
I don’t know if this is a function of government, except for the late term abortions which they made legal. What I do know is this we as the army of the Lord are failing as long as these things are happening. We individually must decide what our response is to these blights upon our testimony of faith.
I cannot even tell you what you should do. These things are a matter of conscience between you and Father and all I can do is stand and deliver to help you to know of the sort of things we are allowing to happen to the people around us. The army used to have a standard question for conscientious objectors. It ran, “You arrive home to find someone raping your wife/belting up your father what do you do?” I am not real sure if it isn’t a valid question when we think about what is being allowed around our Fathers creation let alone our little corner of the world. As for me I chose to do what I am able to bring the love of God to a hurting people, I hope that this may inspire others to take up the cause of Christ.
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