Save the Children!

We are familiar with the passage from James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Many of us in Birmingham are hearing weekly a full explanation of this passage in context of the entire book of James. Our hearts are touched by the pictures of children in need and the orphans around the world that have no hope. Regularly our hearts are stirred by the facts and figures that follow the tear producing photos and videos. Yet, the majority of our money and time is spent on ourselves in our own churches and our own programs.

Mission Maker magazine 2009 shares these stats:
During a 60-minute Lunch Break here is what took place around God's globe

2,738 people died from starvation
342 people died from malaria
76 mothers died from childbirth issues
9,582 babies died from induced abortion
8,898 infants and children were abandoned
4,650 rural poor people migrated to cities
$2,088,751,996 personal income was earned by church members
$2,737,851 was given to global foreign missions
$2,966,005 was embezzled by trusted church leaders
20 Christians were martyred

These stats remind me of another passage in James...anyone who has spent much time around me has heard this passage before, James 4:17 says, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

We need to be motivated by the call of the Father to do what is right rather than led to an emotional response based on how my tears motivate me to give up a little of my excess. When we as the church return to the truth we already know and practice the Holiness that the Father demands, the children will be saved!

What are you doing today?

In His Grip,
JT