So as a part of this continuing unfolding in the journey, the Father has been showing me different ways to 'love our neighbor'. Over the last few years, the Lord has prompted us to slow spending and consumerism in order to give more and made us aware of opportunities to buy fair trade stuff such as chocolate, coffee, vanilla, clothes, among other things. But recently, the Lord took me to a couple of scriptures that really nailed me:
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? (1 John 3:16-17)
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you. (James 5:1-6)
I believe under the New Covenant, all is His. This to me means that the notion of 10% is actually Old Testament living under the Law, and we are to give EVERYTHING. So, if I see need, which is evident around the world everyday, and I do nothing, is the love of God really in me? This isn't something I must do out of drudgery - the Lord loves a cheerful giver - but if I'm reluctant to let go, where must my heart be? Jesus said you cannot serve 2 masters...which brings me to the next set of verses from James. This is where I believe we are in America today in the church, You have heaped up treasure in the last days. It's preached from the pulpit! From human wisdom for ways to save x months and build a nest egg for retirement and blah, blah, blah - its all a "spiritual" way to excuse control and box out the need for faith in the Father. The other perversion is this whole prosperity gospel notion. How can you preach that message to those in the 3rd world? Many of these ones are the very people whom received our fraudulent wages of the laborers who mowed your fields. Sound familiar? They may not be mowing our fields, but people around the world are picking our crops, making our clothes, manufacturing our electronics, and so on and so on. All around the world, Wal-Mart, Target, and on down the list of American retailers force the hand of suppliers to drive down labor costs in order to produce low-quality crap for consumers to fatten themselves on. All at the expense of slave labor. I'm not against capitalism, but I am when fallen man gains at others' expense. If the love of the Father is truly in us, shouldn't our hearts break for our fellow man who works ridiculous hours under inhumane conditions, all to provide us with luxuries such as coffee and chocolate? And then for our hearts to be so calloused that we opt to support these companies because the price of the non-fair trade product is a buck or two cheaper!?! What is the condition of our hearts? Ugh...such things, I believe, grieve the heart of the Father!
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