Our gospel, which is meant to be good news to the poor, often times lacks in action because of you and me - the messengers. Knowingly or otherwise, we fail to use the practical aspect of the good news when it comes to addressing the miseries of the world. “The gaping hole in our gospel” as Richard Stearns, President of World Vision put it.
The bible if full of references on the need to help the needy and yet we keep on looking the other way. There are several reminders in the scripture to stand for the cause of the fatherless, the widow, the poor, the alien, the blind, the oppressed, the brokenhearted, the orphaned, the hungry - the less fortunate of this world. Those left in situations where they need helping hands to stand firm on their feet.
Once a renowned anthropologist was asked what the one sign is that she looks for to tell the existence of ancient civilization. The interviewer was expecting answers like tools, clothes, articles, etc. Her response was “Healed Femur*”.
“I look for healed Femur to see if there was a civilization.” She explained… if someone breaks a femur, they can't survive to hunt, fish or escape enemies unless they have help from someone else. Thus, a healed femur indicates that someone else helped that person, rather than abandoning them and saving themselves. Only in a barbaric culture is where you would expect to discover broken femurs that never healed. Those like ours, where the rule of the society, apparently, is the survival of the fittest.
The fatherless, the widow, the poor, the alien, the blind, the oppressed, the brokenhearted, the orphaned, the hungry - the broken femurs of our age.
What is the extent of our marvelous civilization? What would future anthropologists discover about our culture other than the houses we built, the cars we drove, and the clothes we wore? Most importantly, when our lord opens our treasure box, how many healed femurs will he find?
Our good news to the poor can only be as effective as the love we shared, the talk we walked, the hand we lent, the lives we touched - the femurs we helped heal.
Action speaks louder than words or as the Chinese saying goes - Talk doesn't cook rice.
*Femur is the largest & strongest bone in the human body that extends from pelvis to knee
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