TUESDAY
This week in our devotional, since last Sunday was Serve Sunday, we are going to simply read some passages in Scripture about caring for the poor. This is a consistent theme throughout all of Scripture.
Today, let’s look at a few other passages in the letters of the apostles.
James 1:27 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 2:14–17 14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
1 John 3:17–18 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
1 Timothy 6:17–19 17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
In chapter 2 of Galatians Paul recounts how he was accepted by the Apostles after being converted to the faith. At the end of this account he writes:
Galatians 2:10 10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.