The Bible says in Zechariah 7:8-10: (Reading from the Christian Standard Bible)
9 “The LORD of Armies says this: ‘Make fair decisions. Show faithful love and compassion to one another. 10 “Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the resident alien or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’ (Zec 7:9-10 CSB)
The verse can be divided into three different commands:
Make fair decisions.
Show faithful love and compassion.
Do not oppress.
I read in a news story from the San Francisco Chronicle about homelessness. The story quotes Danny who has spent the last eight years on the streets and said;
“I was married and working and then I got laid off from my job in a warehouse. One thing led to another.”
Danny is 60 years old.
The story also quotes, Dwayne, who is 59 and has been on the street for 6 years. He says:
“I was in the Marine Corps for 16 years. I could get veteran’s disability, but I don’t want it because it’s labeling myself…I paid for my first home when I was 29. I bought two homes. One in Illinois with my first wife and one in California with my second wife in Redwood City. My wife broke the vows of fidelity, and I filed for divorce. That’s when I started living on the street.”
And then there is Stephanie. She is 26 and lives on the street in San Francisco. She says:
“I did many jobs in San Francisco. I was a dental assistant in Union Square. It’s hard to work and be homeless. Now, I have no job and no money. I’m looking for work. I’m on a wait list for housing.”
The Bible says:
…’Make fair decisions. Show faithful love and compassion to one another. “Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the resident alien or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’ (Zec 7:9b-10 CSB)
The people on the street, that many of us see almost daily, are people just like you and me. I know people who have been left by their spouse. I know people who are without a job, looking for work. I know Soldiers that don’t want the labeling.
As we in leadership position seek to follow God’s will for our lives—we are responsible to make fair decisions. This is the first step. When young Soldiers begin to go off the right path onto the wrong one—we need to step in and help them and coach them along. Fairly.
We as Christians are to show love and compassion. I am reminded repeatedly that our world is a hurtful place. There are plenty of things that happen around us to break us down. We who have our hope placed in Christ have responsibility to share that with the world around us.
We also are not to oppress “the widow or the fatherless, the resident alien or the poor” and in addition, we are not to “plot evil in your hearts against one another.” We are to bring hope to the world.
How do we do that? We do that by a smile or a hand of compassion. We do that by following the spirits urging to give to the poor. We can take a blessing bag with us to pass along to a homeless person—not for the purpose of recruitment to our way of thinking—which we often disguise as evangelism—but to encourage them where they are. To plant the seed in them that will prayerfully grow in their hearts and eventually lead them to true hope in Christ.
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