Day 36: What would you do for the least of them?

I was recently speaking to a refugee community in Africa. I asked them: “How would you describe the heart of God?” 

They answered: “His heart is big and full of love”, “Compassion”, “His heart is righteous!”

I said: “Yes. And do you know how God describes His own heart?”

Jesus says: “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)

Gentle and lowly. When I think of the disposition of Jesus, this grips me. He lived so contrary to the systems of His time. He did not power up to be honoured and adored.

He was “the lamb of God”. Sheep are bred for one purpose – lamb chops! They are born to die. Jesus, too, knew He was born to die. He lived His life as a love offering emptied out for the world.

We see this in Matthew 20, where Jesus told His disciples not to be the kind of leaders that lord over and oppress others; whoever desires to become great, let him be the servant of all, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. (Matthew 20:28)

This is the humility of our God. He was born to be poured out.

Jesus, too, knew He was born to die. He lived His life as a love offering emptied out for the world.

Jesus was so selfless in His approach to life that even while He was on the Cross in excruciating pain, He forgave His executioners, made arrangements for His mother and secured the salvation of the thief on the other cross.

He gave of Himself, right to the very end. 

And we are called to be like Him. (Romans 8:29)

I would like my life to be a love offering poured out to the world.

We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper

Having worked amongst the most destitute in Africa – refugees who have lost everything, seen loved ones killed before their eyes, ran with just the clothes on their backs, weathering through starvation, cholera, dysentery – I have seen God moving in our midst.

I have seen His obsession for the poor, His fierce love towards the vulnerable, how He opens doors for provision to stream in from the most unexpected places so that His people might live.

But He needs willing hearts to work with.

Do we see the suffering of our brothers and sisters around the world?

We often call God our Father, but do we see the suffering as our own brothers and sisters? Sometimes we get too wrapped up in the busyness of our daily lives, so that their plight is far removed from our consciousness.

In Matthew 25:40, Jesus said: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

God’s yardstick was very simple: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger (or refugee) and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”(Matthew 25:35-36)

Jesus spoke of simple acts of kindness done with great love.

I would like my life to be a love offering poured out to the world.

I remember coming out of the Congo for the first time. We had been working amongst refugees, and I had never witnessed that level of desperation and suffering.

There was so much I was trying to reconcile within myself. There I was back in a First World setting, with running water and flushing toilets, while the people I loved were living in constant danger.

I could leave anytime, but they couldn’t. That was their home.

It hit me then that we can’t choose where we’re born, whether in the middle of a warzone or in a well-to-do country like Singapore.

It was then that God spoke to my heart, saying: “You are your brother’s keeper… to whom much is given much is required.”

There was no shame in it, just a gentle, sobering perspective, a call to something higher, a call to His heart to live life beyond myself. 

God has really blessed Singapore for a greater purpose.

Would you ask Jesus today: “How would You like me, Lord, to participate in serving our brothers and sisters in need, in Singapore and beyond?”

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, You have been a safe place for our hearts. You lead and serve us each day with gentleness and humility, beckoning us into more of Your likeness. Help us to uplift the broken and the weary, to see through Your eyes of compassion. We want to be like You, Jesus. We want our lives to be a love offering poured out to the world.

In Your name, Amen.