💡 “And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
“And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” Isaiah 58:10-11
📌 Friend!
Are you, by any chance, a member of the “B.B.B.”?*
☞ “Alas, how many are appropriating to themselves the gifts of God! How many are adding house to house and land to land. How many are spending their money for pleasure, for the gratification of appetite, for extravagant houses, furniture, and dress. Their fellow beings are left to misery and crime, to disease and death. Multitudes are perishing without one pitying look, one word or deed of sympathy.
“Men are guilty of robbery toward God. Their selfish use of means robs the Lord of the glory that should be reflected back to Him in the relief of suffering humanity and the salvation of souls. They are embezzling His entrusted goods. The Lord declares, ‘I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against … those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right.’ ‘Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation.’ Malachi 3:5, 8, 9. ‘Go to now, ye rich men, … your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you…. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.’ ‘Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton.’ ‘Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.’ James 5:1-3, 5, 4.” COL 371.1 – 371.2
* Guild of the “Builders of Bigger Barns”, that is?! (Please see: Luke 12:16-21!)
“The only thing that would be of value to him now he has not secured. In living for self he has rejected that divine love which would have flowed out in mercy to his fellow men. Thus he has rejected life. For God is love, and love is life. This man has chosen the earthly rather than the spiritual, and with the earthly he must pass away.” COL 258. 3
☞ “…Isaiah 58:6, 10. Here is set forth the very spirit and character of the work of Christ. His whole life was a sacrifice of Himself for the saving of the world….” DA 278.2
☞ “ ‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.’ Hebrews 13:2. These words have lost none of their force through the lapse of time. Our heavenly Father still continues to place in the pathway of His children opportunities that are blessings in disguise; and those who improve these opportunities find great joy.
“…No act of kindness shown in His name will fail to be recognized and rewarded. And in the same tender recognition Christ includes even the feeblest and lowliest of the family of God….” PK 132.1 – 132.2
☞ “These plain utterances of the prophets and of the Master Himself, should be received by us as the voice of God to every soul. We should lose no opportunity of performing deeds of mercy, of tender forethought and Christian courtesy, for the burdened and the oppressed. If we can do no more, we may speak words of courage and hope to those who are unacquainted with God, and who can be approached most easily by the avenue of sympathy and love.”
“Rich and abundant are the promises made to those who are watchful of opportunities to bring joy and blessing into the lives of others….” PK 327.1 – 327.2
☞ “We are ‘a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.’ 1 Cor 4:9. Our mission is the same as that which was announced by Christ, at the beginning of His ministry, to be His mission. ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,’ He said, ‘because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.’ Luke 4:18, 19.”
“We are to carry forward the work placed in our hands by the Master. He says:…
💡 ‘The poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.’ ‘All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.’ Isaiah 58:10, 11; Matthew 7:12; Deuteronomy 15:11”
“We shall be tempted to be covetous, to be avaricious, to cultivate an insatiable desire for more. If we yield to this temptation, it will bring upon us the same perils that fell upon ancient Jerusalem. We shall fail to know God and to represent Him in character. We need to watch ourselves closely lest we fall because of unbelief, as did the Jews. We are to work unselfishly….” 8T 134.1 – 134.3
Let Your Heart Be Broken
Verse 1
Let your heart be broken for a world in need:
Feed the mouths that hunger, soothe the wounds that bleed,
Give the cup of water and the loaf of bread –
Be the hands of Jesus, serving in His stead.
Verse 2
Here on earth applying principles of love,
Visible expression – God still rules above;
Living illustration of the Living Word
To the minds of all who’ve Never seen or heard.
Verse 3
Blest to be a blessing privileged to care,
Challenged by the need apparent everywhere.
Where mankind is wanting, fill the vacant place;
Be the means through which the Lord reveals His grace.
Verse 4
Add to your believing deeds that prove it true,
Knowing Christ as Savior, make Him Master, too.
Follow in His footsteps, go where He has trod;
In the world’s great trouble risk yourself for God.
Verse 5
Let your heart be tender and your vision clear;
See mankind as God sees, serve Him far and near.
Let your heart be broken by another’s pain!
Share your rich resources, give and give again.
Bryan Jeffery Leech, 1975 (1931- ); Bryan Jeffery Leech
Tune: BJORKLUND