God cares about people!

There's a lot of rhetoric out there about compassion and caring, but how much is genuine? Even among 'church people' who hear so much about loving others like God loves us, how deep does the love really go? That's a question worth asking! I recently talked with a woman whose life had slid into reverse a few years ago. Her health failed, her financial situation deteriorated, her family relationships broke down - and she ended up in desperate straits. Her last resort for housing was a shelter which she described as 'hell on earth!' The government provided the dollars but the 'service' provided by government employees was not from the heart. It was just a job to them! The people being served experienced little in the way of genuine compassion. Then she was directed to a group of people with a ministry to homeless families. There she found genuine compassion, real and deep love; that came from people who were willing to get involved in a way that is costly both in terms of money and time. Their love has put her back on her feet.

Are you serving others - even those who are ungodly or unlovely - with Christ-like love?
Do you see people as persons or objects, as real sons and daughters of God or as pieces on the chess board of life to be pushed around to fit your plays?

Yesterday I was studying the prophet Amos. He opens his sermons with this startling phrase - "The LORD roars... and thunders." In the first two chapters of his book, he tells the pagan nations surrounding Israel of their impending doom, of God's imminent judgment. Here's the really interesting part. He doesn't say God's wrath is coming because they were idol-worshippers or sexually immoral or even because they were Israel's enemies! He speaks time and again (albeit in poetic symbols that are difficult for a layman to decipher) to the cruelty that these nations visited on the people around them. He speaks to their slave trading, to war atrocities, to conquest of nations for economic benefit, and to their general inhumanity. The summary of the passage is that "God cares about people, all people!" He demands that we treat others with dignity, with compassion, and respect. It's not just good social practice to do so; it is God's holy demand of us.

Didn't Jesus say the same thing? A man asked him about pleasing God -
“Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”
Jesus said, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’
This is the most important, the first on any list.

But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’
These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” " (Matthew 22:36-40, The Message)

The love of which He speaks is not expressed with words of syrupy sentiment, or a handshake at church, or even a $100 donation to the Salvation Army. It is a love that gives dignity to the poor person, that does not allow slurs to be spoken against those of another race, that does not demean the weak, or the sinful, or the broken. Our personal piety is a hollow expression of godliness without costly involvement with the world around that works to defeat evil, eliminate suffering, and establish the Kingdom of God.

Here's a thought from Amos. Ponder it! Meditate on it!

"Away with your hymns of praise!
They are only noise to my ears.
I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is.

Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry." (Amos 5:23-24, NLT)