VIDEO: What do you believe? Could we see the end of extreme poverty in our lifetime?
Excerpt from Lent with Compassion:
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?”
Isaiah 58:6
REFLECTION
by Dr Scott Todd, Compassion International
“In Isaiah 58 we find God’s people begging to receive blessings from the Lord. But they are exploiting their workers, they are fighting each other. They are bickering and complaining that their sacrifices haven’t been noticed by God. That their fasting has been overlooked.
But Isaiah the prophet, he steps into that and he says: ‘You want God to honour your sacrifices, well this is what you need to do. It’s time to loose the chains of injustice, it’s time to set the oppressed free.’
I believe the message of Isaiah 58 is the same message we need to hear again today. No more idle words. Martin Luther Junior once said, ‘Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts of men being willing to be co-workers with God.’
It’s time for authentic action. Let’s stop performing out of religious habits and start living the life we were called to.”
PRAYER
Ask God how He would like you to respond to the call of Isaiah 58.