Orphan Sunday

Today in the United States we honor Orphan Sunday. A day that we speak, even briefly, on the plight of orphans in our neighborhood and around the world. Millions of orphans. And many will probably hear this Bible verse quoted:

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 1: 27

Have you ever wondered why that is? Why looking after orphans and widows is what God considers pure and faultless religion? (I think we all kind of "get" why keeping yourself from being polluted by the world fits in...) I was reading a book by Susan Meissner, called Widows and Orphans and through a character in her book she addresses this very thing. I thought it fitting to share with you.

The reason that God accepts looking after orphans and widows in their distress as pure and faultless religion is two fold:

1) we get to remember what we would be, were it not for the great mercy and grace of God. In Biblical times, widows and orphans were the most vulnerable of all people, without basic necessities, but also battling loneliness and trying to survive without an inheritance. Since God is spoken of as our Father, and Christ, as the bridegroom of the church, we spiritually are just like orphans and widows without God's great mercy and grace - with no father and no husband...just as needy, just as vulnerable, just as broken. Without God, we are most like the orphan and the widow. (This is taken directly from her book, p.189. Copyright 2006 published by Harvest House Publishers)

2) In caring for these especially vulnerable people, we get to represent God's love and concern for them in a very tangible way. In caring for their physical and emotional needs, we open doors for God to reveal Himself to them in the greatest way - to meet their spiritual emptiness. No one wants to hear about spiritual needs when the growl in their tummy or fear of their safety overpowers the spoken word, right?

Would you like to know a way to help? There are many...here is one place you could go for more information, education, and opportunity. Sometimes, that's all we need - to be educated and given a chance to do something good. So here's yours...what will you do with it?