Proverbs 31:8-9

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themsevles, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." Proverbs 31:8-9

Tonight I was doing a reading in proverbs and ran across this verse. It's one of those verses that jumps out at you, with some sort of extremity to it. It's a verse that has spoken to the hearts of many over the generations, and has guided many hearts to act out in myriad ways to protect and serve the lives of those that are left voiceless. Often times we get so consumed with the desire to spoon feed the gospel to people that we often times disregard the fact that many people around the world are suffering from diseases, corrupt goverment, and many have been stripped of their humanity due to heinous acts of human-trafficing and many other cases. Don't get me wrong here I truly believe in the message of Christ impacting the lives of the masses, but as Christ followers I have come to understand that we are called to much higher standards than just the simple act of sharing the gospel in its physicality. In actuality the gospel is meant to be lived out. The gospel message is not something that should be repeated by voice of mouth, like a robot repeating what it was programmed to say, but act out what the words illuminate from the pages. If this were so, we would begin to lose sight of the simple act of sharing the gospel in a constant verbal desperation, but we would begin to see the true beauty of its nature in it being acted out as it was intended. The definition of a Christian is simply "little Christ" or further "Christ-like in nature". This is who we are called to be, Christ! We are called to be Christ for the little one suffering from a disease, beacause he or she wasn't able to get drinking water. We are called to be Christ to the widow that is left in her loneliness. We are called to be Christ to the homeless family hiding behind an alley, because the are to ashamed to show their loss. We the church are "Christ"! When are we going to stop speaking of the beauty of the gospel, and begin acting out the true nature of it. When this becomes a reality lives will be changed, people will not just here of this wonderful God, but they will see the magnificent work of his hands. This is who we were called to be, to Speak out and serve those who are in need.