I found a good article on Reject Apathy about ministering to people. Reject Apathy is an offspring of Relevant magazine, a good Christian publication for young people and anyone who wants a challenge.
What Does Justice Look Like
Social justice has take a beating from the far Christian right in the last few years with Glen Beck, who was on Fox News at the time, placing the desire to win social justice on the same level as communism and Naziism. He said, “I beg you look for the words social justice or economic justice on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. … Am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!” According to several news sources, later on in the show, Beck held up a picture of a swastika and one of a hammer and sickle, declaring again that “social justice” has the same philosophy as the Nazis and communists and that the phrase is a code word for both.
Now while it is true that some of the Catholic missionary orders in South America leaned toward Marxist philosophy to free the poor and oppressed from extremely far right dictatorships (dictatorships which are backed by the United States, by the way), Christians in America, as this article shows, are seeking to get involved in the lives of people on a grander scale. They are seeking to ease suffering. They are trying to be involved directly with people rather than just donating money to a cause. And, they are trying their darnedest to wipe out the ill effects of poverty. Some of them may think that equalizing everyone through government is the way to accomplish this, but on the whole I don't think that is the motive at all. They are trying to follow Christ's words in Matthew 25:
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
I use the word "they" because I don't think I am one of these Christians. This passage convicts me more than anything. I see my friend Dr. Joe Gorman going to Africa to build medical clinics, or people giving up their comfortable lives here in America to help the victims of sex slavery, or people working in soup kitchens, or ministering to people in prison. But, as the article in Reject Apathy asks ... what am I actually doing?
Sure, I'm trying to help people spiritually and to raise awareness on this blog. I am also trying raising my boys to become men of God. I donate money to people in need, but I don't give up a lot of time.
It's a good question to ask ourselves and then let God lead. If we did this where would he lead us?
Shalom,
Lisa
