...About Restoring the Streets

Under a warm roof with a meal on the table, it's all too easy to look away from the things we don't want to see and hope we'll forget they even exist. It's high time we begin to think differently. Would we chuck what the world says is "important" and choose to live for things that matter to God? To love and serve others in a way that demands an explanation? There's a passage in Isaiah 58 that's been chasing me for weeks:

"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? THEN shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. THEN you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, THEN shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in."

We want to be "repairers of the breach" and "restorers of the streets"? We pray for that so desperately. Well, God can do it! He can warm the cold and light up the darkness in this place in bringing people to Life with the power of the Gospel! Do you believe we can see this island change in our lifetimes? I believe it! If we would just be obedient. I've been feeling more and more that we can't simply "incorporate" the call on our lives to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the fatherless & widowed into what we do when the call is so intense - for THIS is true religion (James 1:27). That message is smothered all over Scripture. Jesus said it and lived it day after day. We want to serve Christ and be like Him? He told us how: "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me". This heart can't just be part of our lives. To "pour ourselves out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted" needs to be our heartbeat. I can't get away from this passage. A holy God saying 'you want me to answer? You want to shine brightly in dark places? DO THIS.'

Let's put it all on the line to bring Light to the world around us. Live a life that demands an explanation.