Do We Get It?
Theme of the Week: Mixing It Up
Ronald Sider
Monday, June 30, 2003
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Key Bible Verses: Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, "Well, good-bye and God bless you" … what good does that do? (James 2:15-16). Bonus Reading:Isaiah 3:13-15
Like so many inner-city young men with few decent job opportunities, James Dennis became an alcoholic. An angry black militant with a troubled marriage, he landed in prison for a serious crime. While there, someone shared the gospel with him, and his transformation in Jesus Christ began. When James got out, the pastor of our Philadelphia church walked beside and discipled him. James became an active member, then an elder. He is still a proud African American who won't tolerate white racism. But God erased his racial hatred and restored his family. He has a good job and owns his own home.
Anyone who thinks prison reform, plus government jobs and housing programs alone would have solved James's problems doesn't get it. He needed Christ to transform his values, inner convictions, and family life. But anybody who thinks that being born again alone would have solved his problems doesn't get it either. If the school system offers his children a lousy education, if decent housing is unavailable, and there are no jobs, he still has big problems. For wholeness, people need both a good external environment and internal integrity grounded in a right relationship to God.
—Ronald Sider in The Gospel with Extra Salt
My Response: Which side of wholeness have I let slide?
Thought to Apply: Be conservative in preserving the faith, radical in applying it.
—John Stott (British pastor)
Adapted from The Gospel with Extra Salt (Judson, 2000) by permission.
Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.
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Lord, don't let my belief remain private and detached. Push me out into Your world to demonstrate Your love.
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