Friday, July 20, 2012 – Isaiah 60-64

Friday, July 20, 2012 – Isaiah 60-64

Isaiah 61:1-2
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor

Jesus quoted these words in Luke 4:18, 19. After reading these words
to the people in the synagogue, Jesus rolled up the scroll and said,
"Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21). Many
know these verses as Jesus' mission statement. I've actually been
forming a mission statement of my own and for some reason, the words,
"to proclaim good news to the poor," have been ringing in my heart.

Over the past couple months, I've formed many new relationships with
young Christian men. Many of these guys come from humble backgrounds.
For most of my childhood, I actually grew up in the "hood" or ghetto
myself. At ten years-old, I was fortunate to leave that environment
(more so the abuse than the neighborhood) when two wonderful women (my
aunt and her partner/my moms) took me in and raised me as their son in
a nice suburb. Over time, I adapted to the wealthy suburban culture
and began to forget where I had come from. I started to take many
things for granted. I started to expect to have certain things.

Now I'm not saying that everyone that grows up in a nice suburb takes
things for granted, I'm just telling you my experience. I know many
financially well-off people are grateful for what they have. Anyways,
my experience – in high school for instance, I expected to have a car
once I got my license. It was normal in my high school for pretty much
everyone of driving age to have a car. Funny thing is most of us did
absolutely nothing to earn our cars. Our parents just gave them to us.
To be honest, until recently, I was very ignorant about the luxury of
a car. Many of my new Christian friends don't have cars and the first
few times I hung out with them I arrogantly thought to myself, "Why
don't these guys have cars? They need to get cars." Then I realized
that neither they nor their parents are in a financial position to
purchase a car.

In my ignorance, I also noticed how I've taken something as simple as
three meals a day for granted. The first few times I hung out with my
new friends, it became obvious that they skipped meals a lot. Not
because they weren't hungry, but because they didn't have the money.
And the couple times they did eat, they chose to eat fast food because
they could easily fill their stomachs for five or six bucks. None of
this, my friends has explained to me. I have figured this out through
observing them and recalling the days when my life was once like that.
After a couple days of course, I laid the observations to the side and
started treating them to meals.

"To proclaim good news to the poor," isn't just verbally sharing the
gospel with the poor. It's also caring for their physical needs. Jesus
set the standard for this by feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of
bread and two fish. And they had leftovers. Yes He's God and can
easily multiply that small amount of food to feed all those people,
but the example is the same. You don't need much to give. If you're
living paycheck to paycheck, you still have plenty to give.

Poor people are walking home from Stop & Shop every day. Go give one a
ride home and share the Gospel. Don't think about it, just pray about
it and do it. If reaching out to the poor isn't one of your top
priorities, then what Gospel are you preaching? In the New Testament,
Jesus' brother James said, "What good is it, my brothers and sisters,
if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save
them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.
If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but
does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same
way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead"
(James 2:14-17).

I challenge you all over the next week, "to proclaim good news to the
poor." With the anointing of the Holy Spirit, this was of the highest
priority to Jesus. If we believe in Jesus, then we also have the
anointing of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, proclaiming good news to the
poor should be one of our highest priorities. Who knows? Maybe you'll
be the one receiving the lesson on faith from them. This has certainly
happened to me. "Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God
chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith
and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? (James
2:5)"

God Bless,
Anthony