Remember the poor

The Apostle Paul was running around the countryside preaching the gospel to both the Jews and Gentiles. He was having great success, and many Gentiles were turning from their sin and following Jesus. When the Church Council met to debate the issue of Gentile Salvation they agreed that this was part of Gods plan of Salvation. But as they sent Paul back to report the findings they added that, “they should remember the poor.” (Galatians 2)

Today I did some remembering of the poor as I prepared for a talk Sarah and I had to give today. I spent a number of years growing up in Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world. This had a significant impact upon me and has obviously informed my world view. As I looked at some photos a flood of memories came running back to me. You may not see it at first, but there is a young boy lieing in the rubbish in the picture to the left. This horrible poverty was a part of my every day life.

God has reminded me that it doesn’t matter how much we are preaching, who we are preaching to, or how effective we are, we must take heed to the apostels words to “remember the poor.” Preaching the gospel is important, but if we are to live trully sancitified lives, we cannot forget the poor. The same motivation for preaching is the same motivation for helping the poor. Its love. So, like Paul, we must continue to preach the gospel to whoever we can, but we must never forget the poor. We must preach the gospel and help the poor.

Lord, thankyou that you remember the poor. Please forgive me for not remembering the poor as you would have me do. I choose from now on to remember the poor and preach the gospel, both motivated by your love. Amen

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