Caring IV (SA)

He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap . . . 

 - From 1 Samuel 2

"To care" is different than "to love."

Brotherly love is a great feeling, in which you have a synergistic relationship with someone else. You love them like a brother - - - there is a bond in which you enjoy spending time together. You like the same activities.

Romantic love is selfish. (Let's face it). You become romantically involved with someone because you desperately hope for some benefits.

But you can't truly care for someone else, without there being some sacrifice on your part. To care means to put yourself out, expecting little to nothing in return. It is the truest form of love. It is godly love.

So that, if we want to be people that care for others, we want to love as God loves.

God seems to have a special passion for the needy, the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the poor. He promises that they will be lifted up . . . they will live like royalty. And we know this is the case in eternity.

But what is expected of us, in this life? You can't count on taxes and government to lift the station of the poor. You have to do it yourself, personally, sacrificially.

If you say you care . . . if you value caring for others . . . and you don't care for others, yourself, then your values are vain and ineffectual. Putting up yard signs for politicians that "care" is not how it's done. Go find a poor person and make sure they are better off at the end of the day, than they were on the morning that you found them. Invest in them. Work with them. Share with them. House them.

This is really what it takes. The world's problems disappear if just a few of us start doing this.

But if you don't, then please don't act like your political talk and votes are the same as caring.