Walk, walk !!

Well our family is about to increase today by three !!  No, we’re not having triplets but my daughter and her husband are bringing home three new foster children !!  Most people think they are crazy to take so many at once but our daughter has always been a lover of children and she will be a great Mom and her husband a great Dad.  Their decision to take in now a total of four as their own reminds me of an instance in seminary when a fellow student and his wife were talked about for having had their seventh baby.  In such an affluent area where things were given such precedence, having more than the normal 1.5 was frowned upon even by many in our church.  But the majority were wrong then and still are !   People hold vast importance to God and especially those who are “down and out”  who’s biological parents want nothing to do with them.   James said “pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. . . ” (1:27) .   That word “visit” is not a casual idea, it means to examine in order to see how that person is, to look after, care for !

All too often we allow things to eclipse the importance of people. Saturday comes and warm weather is upon us and there is so much we want to do outside, so many errands to run, the house to clean, the car to service and before you know it you lie your head on the pillow at night and there is little that was done to show affection to those you call your loved ones !  But each day there are precious souls around us in need of the love of Christ through our lives (outside and inside our own homes).  They need encouragement, help, prayer, physical sustenance that God can use us to help them with.  We should not turn a blind eye or deaf ear to them and think that we are living a sterling Christian life.   The prophet Micah put it thus, “. . . what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (6:8).   Before you “hit the pews” this Sunday, put some effort forth to be a blessing to someone  so that they are encouraged, feel loved, and see in you that God is making a difference in your life.   Don’t just talk the walk,  walk it too !!