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Your Letter of Recommendation
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1 John 3:17,18 Suppose a believer who is rich enough to have all the necessities of life sees a fellow believer who is poor and does not have even basic needs. What if the rich believer does not help the poor one? Then it is clear that God’s love is not in that person’s heart. My children, our love should not be only words and talk. No, our love must be real. We must show our love by the things we do.
Listen to the radio broadcast of Your Letter of Recommendation
Download audio fileQuick question: how wealthy are you? Because if you have the basic necessities of life covered – water, food, accommodation – then by any measure, you’re wealthier than you might imagine!
I mentioned yesterday the experience of visiting a leper colony in a harsh corner of Tanzania. These men live in ramshackle assortment of dilapidated buildings that once constituted a storage depot.
I was asked to share a short message and then to place a fresh cake of soap – such a basic item – into each of their deformed, gnarled and in some cases fingerless, hands.
You can’t walk away from an experience like that and not be changed. When I returned home, my wife and I realigned our giving priorities toward the poor. How else can you respond?
1 John 3:17,18 Suppose a believer who is rich enough to have all the necessities of life sees a fellow believer who is poor and does not have even basic needs. What if the rich believer does not help the poor one? Then it is clear that God’s love is not in that person’s heart. My children, our love should not be only words and talk. No, our love must be real. We must show our love by the things we do.
As Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said: “Every church” (and I’d add to that, every believer) “should be able to get a letter of recommendation from the poor in their community.”
That’s not, by any stretch, an unreasonable statement. Amongst the strongest of all evidence to demonstrate the reality (or absence) of God’s love in our hearts is how we give to the poor.
That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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