I recently found this gem the other day and thought to
share. While it's particularly important for Christians, I also think it's
something everyone should consider. So it is from the book of Isaiah in the
Bible. Basically, God told the prophet Isaiah to pass on a message to the
Israelites. The Israelites always acted very pious, God said. They would go the
Temple every day and even seem happy to learn about God. They carried
themselves as though they would never abandon God and like they wanted to be
near Him. And when there was silence from him, they would protest:
we have fasted!
we have been really hard on ourselves; denied ourselves of
life's pleasures just to please you!
why are you NOT impressed, huh?
why do you act like you don't notice?
Sounds familiar? I bet it does. You are fasting and praying.
You serve in Church. You can quote the Bible from Genesis to Revelations. You
can preach the devil back to hell. So what's up? Why does God not notice it?
Well that's because while you are fasting, you are
exploiting and oppressing your workers. While you are fasting, you are fighting
with the whole world, and keeping malice. So you do the rites, and fast for 150
of the 365 days in the year. But God is like, nah, that kind of fasting will
get you nowhere. That kind of lifestyle really doesn't please him. What kind of
fasting does he want, you ask.
"No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of
those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind
people.
Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the
homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from
relatives who need your help." -
Isaiah 58: 6-7.
If you go on in that passage, it continues to say
"THEN..." meaning after you do all of the above, will you experience
true healing;
will your godliness lead you forward;
will the glory of God protect you. It is THEN that the Lord
will quickly (it specifies) answer your call.
When you feed the hungry, and help those in trouble, your
light will shine out.
In other words, less of you and more of others. We can see
that justice, mercy, and compassion matter to God a lot. And again, we see that
hypocrisy really irritates God. I'll give another instance; this time in the
new testament. Jesus was dragging the Pharisees and calling them hypocrites and
stuff. And then he mentioned how they do everything right, they were careful to
tick all the boxes. They would even tithe the tiniest income they earned. BUT,
they would ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and
faith. I'm not even kidding, Jesus called those the MORE IMPORTANT [THAN TITHE]
aspects of the law. He then reiterated that while tithing was and would always
be important, justice, mercy, and faith were more important.
Coincidentally, I was just joking with my dad and sister
recently that while no one person can be angry about all injustices, it's
important and dare I say, it's our responsibility to care about justice. There
has to be something; one thing you care about. Pick that one thing and run with
it, in whatever capacity you can.
Is it giving the less privileged? Maybe this year instead of
another useless birthday photo-shoot, you can instead ask your friends to give
on your behalf?
Someone on Twitter once suggested calling your local school
(board) and asking to offset some lunch debt for kids.
Maybe it's your time you can give: to your own family, your
friends. Something...just remember God really cares about it. Also remember you can't just consistently
live for yourself and yourself alone.
Courtesy: Ifeoluwa Olawole.
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