My Wife is a Sex Slave, My Children are Slumdogs
I think it’s about time we start caring for the least of these as if they were the greatest. Does Jesus see those served injustice as though they were His bride, His children? You bet He does. Who are we? The Body of Christ.
I happen to be without a wife and children. I feel as though they were stolen from me, a destiny lost to darkness. Considering my own lost estate (though I am found), my Lord calls me to turn and care for those who have nothing, are dying, are tortured and abused. They are my treasured wife and children. May I not desert them as distant news. What would I not give of myself to see them approach the same dwelling that I call “home”, into my arms? Wouldn’t I give my life for my wife and children? I hope that my resources and prayers can save one, two, who knows, a thousand. I want my family to grow. I want to see my beautiful bride soon, for I long for her.
~ A partner of Jesus
Isaiah 58 (ESV)
“Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the LORD?“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.“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the LORD honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
then you shall take delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Amen, and amen. I agree, we are way overdue. Those who are carrying the ball; have been in the harness, need some relief and aid.
Indeed. Even more, we need to repent. We live in too much comfort and distance ourselves from these people who can be blessed by our abundance. This Isaiah 58 should be shouted from the rooftops. It perfectly describes our plight. We are very much like Sodom and Gomorrah. Read Isaiah 1, which equates Israel – God’s chosen people, his holy nation – as being like these evil nations that were destroyed. If even they are condemned for their arrogant ways, will we not also be judged? Take heed, and rend your hearts, people. We need to follow fast after the heals of our Lord Jesus Christ. This may be an age of grace… but it is not such for us to live in comfort and ease, seeing no punishment for our ways. It is a time to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. A time is coming when the bowls of God’s wrath will be outpoured. The destruction will be unlike anything ever before experienced in this world. Our will should join the Father’s. He waits in forbearance, not to let sins go unpunished, but that NO ONE SHOULD PERISH, that all should come to a saving knowledge of Christ. It is through US, His Body, that this will be accomplished. Or not at all, and their blood is on our hands. See also Isaiah 3:8-10, Jeremiah 23:13-15, Lamentations 4:5-8…
And here’s the clincher… we think of Sodom as being full of sexual perversion, and THAT’s why they were destroyed. While that played a part, and so do we ail from this, listen to the reason God states for their destruction:
Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. As I live, declares the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.
Ezekiel 16:47-49 ESV
Do not be found among those akin to Sodom, as were the children of Abraham. We, being “raised from the rocks” as children of Abraham through faith, we too are to be equally concerned with the issues of pride, excess of food, and propserous ease, not giving aid to the poor and needy. Anyone who does unto the least of these does unto Jesus. Anyone who does not is a goat, departing into outer darkness. Don’t fear! Don’t work FOR your salvation. Yet work OUT your salvation with fear and trembling, though it is HE who has saved You. BECAUSE He has forgiven your great debt, take joy in helping with the load of others.
AMEN! Wow. God is nudging me big time!! Good intentions are not enough. That is where I get stuck. GOOD INTENTIONS STINK.
And even so, Americans are generally speaking fairly generous people. I agree. Give credit where credit is due… but does that mean that we as INDIVIDUALS are generous? Or do we rely on the generosity of our nation as a whole, much coming out of our national budget? If we ourselves don’t have this sacrificial, generous spirit, then it doesn’t count for us. We are not acquitted by association, but by our own deeds (though Jesus indeed covers where we lack in the salvation sense).
And EVEN IN our generosity, we don’t give sacrificially. I’m not talking about calling material things evil and pursuing asceticism. But seriously, look at Jesus’ teaching on the matter and ask yourself if you are considering things highly enough. I say this to everyone, including myself. I’m seriously reconsidering how I operate as an “American” and am trying to cut back and help others. I’m not going to list all of what I’m doing, so as to “receive my reward now”. It’s my little secret… but I encourage each person to consider the concept for him/herself as well. Search the Scriptures relentlessly.