I'm currently reading a book called When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor...Or Yourself. It's been challenging. For many people, Christianity is going to church on Sunday and living life as if we've taken some sort of Hippocratic Oath to do no harm. And there's nothing wrong with that, in and of itself. But it is enough? In the chapter I'm currently reading, the authors visit Isaiah and dig into the reasons for Israel's captivity. Why was Israel sent into captivity? The easy answer, and the one I came up with first, was idolatry. But there's more. "Here," the authors note, "Israel appears to be characterized by personal piety and the outward expressions of formal religion." These outward signs did not reflect any inward heart for God. Chapter 58 talks about "proper fasting":
"Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--"[the ESV says it a little more strongly: "and bring the homeless poor into your house"] "when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday."
The authors say, "God was furious over Israel's failure to care for the poor and the oppressed. He wanted His people to 'loose the chains of injustice,' and not just go to church on Sunday. He wanted His people to 'clothe the naked,' and not just attend midweek prayer meeting. He wanted His people to 'spend themselves on behalf of the hungry,' and not just sing praise music. Personal piety and formal worship are essential to the Christian life, but they must lead to lives that 'act justly and love mercy' (Micah 6:8)"
Israel was meant to be a preview of the coming Messiah, but failed frequently and spectacularly. As the Christian church, we "are more than just a sneak preview of King Jesus. The church is the body, bride, and very fullness of Jesus Christ[...] When people look at the church, they should see the very embodiment of Jesus! When people look at the church, they should see the One who declared--in word and in deed to the leper, the lame, and the poor--that His kingdom is bringing healing to every speck of the universe."
Is that convicting, or what? I'm pretty sure that I've got more in common with Old Testament Israel than I'd care to admit or contemplate. Besides which, who am I, what gifts do I have, that God could use me? Joyce Meyer says, "It frequently happens that believers know something down deep in their hearts...but their minds fight against it. They may consider themselves unworthy. They may ask, 'Who am I that You would use me to change lives?' They waste a lot of energy by telling God why they can't do what He wants them to do. God already knows everything that is wrong with us or ever will be wrong with us, and He is willing to work through us anyway. God requires availability not ability." Our part in this is to decide to believe. And then do what he asks. Which is why, doubts and fears and all, I'm going.