Devotional Thoughts for Today
“God’s Love for the Marginalized”
Jeremiah 5:26-31
“For wicked men are found among My people, they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap, they catch men. 27 Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich. 28 They are fat, they are sleek, they also excel in deeds of wickedness; they do not plead the cause, the cause of the orphan, that they may prosper; and they do not defend the rights of the poor. 29 Shall I not punish these people?” declares the Lord, “On a nation such as this shall I not avenge Myself? 30 An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: 31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?”
Sometime last summer, I was at our church office working especially late preparing for three large events, when I heard our church doorbell ring. Assuming it was a fellow staff member who might have forgotten their keys, I unassumingly opened the door to find a homeless man covered in soot. Startled, but concerned, I asked the man if he needed food or water. He politely declined and simply asked if I had socks in the building. Upon looking at his feet, I noticed that he was bleeding on his foot; yet not having any clothes at our office, the man asked if I could call an ambulance for him. Soon after, the paramedics and police arrived; and upon seeing the man, they began to interrogate him without ever asking if he was hurt. Their first words were, “Why are you so dirty?” It was an absolutely heartbreaking experience to see the people who took an oath to serve and protect the community marginalize this man without a concern for his health—simply because of his state.
In this passage we see God particularly emphasize Judah’s lack of concern for the orphans and the poor. He declares them wicked in their plans to marginalize the needy for their personal benefit. Amongst the long list of Judah’s sin, God highlights the injustice of the marginalized, and asks how He could leave this sin unpunished.
God’s concern for the weak, poor, and hurting are the top of God’s concern. While it may be easy to pass by the homeless and to think there is little we can do to help the orphans and hurting, God calls us to be the light of the world. To be the light and solution to the world, we must be the same channel of love and hope that saved us from our own sins. Let us take time from our day today to find ways to be the light in the areas of darkness around us.
Prayer: God, I thank You for Your love that saved a wretch like me. Help me to realize Your love is the only one that can save. Help me to be the agent of love with the love You poured out to me. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
Bible Reading for Today: James 4
Lunch Break Study
Read Matthew 25:31-40: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” 37 Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?” 40 The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Questions to Consider
- What does God require of His children to receive their inheritance in full?
- How does God associate Himself with the needy?
- Take some time to think about a group of people that may be difficult for you to love. What are some obstacles you need to overcome to love them?
Notes
- God requires His children to do acts of service in tending to those in need.
- God states that what one does for the sick, hungry, and imprisoned is the same as what they do for Him.
- Personal response.
Evening Reflection
Today we spoke on God’s call to all believers to serve, love, and defend the marginalized in our society. Take time to reflect on your day. Did you take time out of your day to find ways to show love and be a light to the world? If not, tomorrow is a new day, but think of ways you can show the love God to those who may need it.
Growing up my mother was the epitome of the Asian tiger mom: authoritative, controlling, and all about her rules. Truth be told, I grew up fearing my mother out of apprehension of how she would dictate my life if I went against her ways. And thus, I got good grades in fear that she’d send me to more after school programs, I never argued back in fear that she would scold me, and I stayed home when asked in fear that she would never let me hang out with my friends. While it would take me years to understand that it was my mother’s love for me that compelled her, my fear certainly instilled in me the need to do what was right.
Back in 2014, after moving to the suburbs of New Jersey and starting a 9 to 6 job, I felt an urgency to bring some new excitement into my daily routine. Thus, in my efforts to bring some joy into my daily grind, I attempted to pick up a new hobby – gardening. So I went and bought three succulents and propagated a dozen of its leaves until I had about fifteen plants on my window sill. I diligently watered those plants, gave it plenty of sunlight, and repotted them as they grew bigger. My goal was to get these little succulents I had bought for $5 to grow to become big, luscious succulents that I could replant in beautiful flower pots around our family home. Let’s just say, I went from fifteen plants to one pink moon cactus. The problem: I didn’t prune the leaves, all in my attempts to get them to grow bigger!
The AMI QT Devotionals from May 21-7 are provided by Jennifer Kim, a staff at Catalyst Agape Church (New Jersey). Jennifer, a graduate of Boston University, spent a year in Shanghai as one-year intern from 2013-14. She is currently attending Alliance Theological Seminary.
During the early seeds of my Christian faith, I struggled to understand the call to be holy and righteous in all things when it seemed that certain sins did not affect others and most went unnoticed. After speaking with an older believer, her response shook me to my core when she said, “Nothing is hidden with God. Even if you get away with something now, when you go to heaven everything will be revealed.” I remember the crippling fear that came over me as I thought about all the sins that I thought I had gotten away with but would be revealed to everyone in heaven. I feared judgment from the people I had wronged, I feared what people would think of me, and I feared the consequences of my actions. Mind you I was a new believer with no biblical foundation on heaven, love, grace, and mercy, but it certainly convicted my eleven-year-old self to be pure and righteous in all things.
There are lots of people in this world who are pretty darn good at doing evil. Career criminals, mafia members—and who can forget Dr. Evil, who actually spent six years in evil medical school perfecting his craft, all have certain forms of evil down to a science.
“And while potential jumpers often wait for officers to arrive because they may want to be talked out of killing themselves, there are those who never give officers the chance. Detective Canale recalled a man who leapt from a lower stretch of the Verrazano and struck the rocks below. The man was still alive when the detective got to him, though many of his bones were broken, his internal organs ruptured. As the man’s shattered body was secured to a long board and he was administered oxygen, the man, in some of his final words, said he regretted jumping, the detective recalled. ‘I can’t get this right, either,’ the man said, according to Detective Canale. ‘I told him: “We’re going to get you to the hospital. We’re going to try to make it better.”’” – Ruderman, Wendy, “The Jumper Squad,” The New York Times, Oct 5, 2012
Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s I used to watch a TV show called Colombo. If you’re a millennial or younger you probably haven’t heard of it, but it was great TV for its time. Peter Falk played Colombo, a homicide detective with the LAPD. Colombo was assigned to investigate lots of crimes where the persons of interest were rich, Beverly Hills types—the kind of people who had enough money to cover their tracks and enough education to make them think that they could get away with what they did. In many episodes, the perpetrators were so confident during Colombo’s initial meeting with them that it seemed like they really did believe that their heinous crimes would never be found out. It was only a matter of time, however, before the excessively-clever-as-compared-to-the-way-he-dressed-and-groomed-himself Colombo started to sniff out clues that led to the unraveling of the perpetrators’ alibis and their eventual arrests. They were so sure that they had gotten away with it, that they were almost boasting, but the day of reckoning caught them unaware.
There was a period in my life, probably around 12 or 13 years of age, when I used to go to a strategy gaming club every Sunday. To say that I loved turn-based strategy games would be an understatement. It was my Sunday ritual—my “church” before I started going to church. As an adult, I still love these games but have also come to see that they can be a time drain and can get in the way of getting other important things done. This became all the more so when some of my favorite games appeared in online form; now there was no need to look for someone to play with—the worldwide online community was available 24/7. This tension came to a climax in my early twenties, when I felt like my love for strategy games was competing with my commitment to God. I felt the need for change but stopped short of actually doing anything about it. I would acknowledge that my hobby was getting out of hand, that I was probably even addicted, and even pray about it, confessing my poor stewardship of time to God—yet nothing changed. The reason for this was simple: I felt bad, but not bad enough to actually remove the source of the addiction.
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” –