Isaiah 58:7-8
The statistics of world poverty are truly staggering and a rebuke to our affluent lifestyle in the West. But God does not see the statistics. He sees individual lives that are scarred by hunger, disease and a lack of many amenities of life that many of us take for granted. Indeed, God sees each and every individual life.
It is impossible for each one of us to tackle poverty on a grand scale – en masse – or in the abstract, but it is possible to respond to the needs of individual lives that are the flesh and blood that go to make up the appalling statistics.
In the UK, Catherine sponsors, prays for and corresponds with a young girl from the city of Bangalore in India. Many miles separate them, yet it is a relationship from which Catherine receives as well as gives.
This link has been established by the Christian Charity ‘Compassion’, which describes its ministry as Christ centred, child focussed and church based.
Such relational ministry embodies the deep concern of the Lord Jesus Christ for the poor. This compassion has the goal of enriching in many ways the lives of children who would otherwise be condemned to a brutal struggle simply to survive.
In the Gospel of Matthew ch25 v40, Jesus says, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brother of mine, you did for me“. This work of compassion is truly the love of God in action.
More information about the organisation ‘Compassion’ is available on their website http://www.compassionuk.org.
