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Rags & Riches

 We might often tell someone that we love them, but what does that love mean in real terms? If that love were tested - with a cost applied, how far would you be willing to go for them ... really? And what value would our definition of love have against God's?

What if God called us to love someone loud, un-bathed and shabby, destitute and begging for our compassion? What if they came from a foreign nation, bearing a different skin color - a color that Father God chose for them like He chose for each of us. Even to the very least in all of humanity's suffering eyes, they would have been created by God and if they belong to Him ... they'd be royalty and under His watchful eye. Who would we have to think we were in order to judge or reject them because of our own personal bias? Would we dare?

We tend to recognize family through our own personal definitions. We might define it by blood, relational longevity, marriage, a combination of all of these or some other personally defined code. But in reality, no matter how conscientiously we guard and nurture those human relationships, every one of them will change one day because physical humanity has a shelf life and our physical shell is destined to expire. But there's one definition and one family that will never die - Father God's.

We were never created or intended to hold flesh in higher esteem than the  eternal spirits that he created us to be, or to relegate the importance of any of God's created human beings to that of our human definitions, making them subject to our human bias. Whoever we meet and wherever we find them, they're all eternal spirits created by The Living God who holds the same hope of redemption and reunification for them - whoever they are, that He held so strongly for each of us. Who are we seeking mercy and grace to judge another in need of the same? And if they've responded and already accepted His invitation, they're equal to us in God's eyes - our brothers and sisters in Christ's eternal family regardless of their color, appearance or circumstances.

Let's go one step further...

If God Himself found friendship amongst the beggars, thieves, lame, widows, orphans and prostitutes of the world, cared for and loved them ... who are we not to follow His lead? We know that Jesus did this very thing and charged us all to follow Him. This type of love and compassion was nothing new. Throughout scripture God's heart repeatedly called out for mercy and compassion for those who were unfortunate, humanly despised, or deemed less worthy ...

"Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows". Isaiah 1:17

"Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.” Luke 14:12-14 (NLT)

“At that time I will put you on trial. I am eager to witness against all sorcerers and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people do not fear me,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. I am the LORD, and I do not change. ..." Malachi 3:5&6 (NLT)

"I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings."  Hosea 6:6 (NLT)

What does love mean to us in human terms? Far more importantly ... what does it mean in Father God's terms? Love - real love, has a great value in God's economy. True and lasting riches are measured in His currency and nothing goes unnoticed or is without value when offered in submission to Father God - ever. The reward only waits in His treasury for the right time while our faith in Him is measured for its integrity. 

The day of accounting is coming. Will we be found redeemed ... but still poor? 

I pray it is not so ...

"No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."  Micah 6:8 (NLT)

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