Discover Why We Need to Help the Poor and Needy
Even if you’ve not read the Bible, you have likely heard about Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities God destroyed for their extreme wickedness.
The account of this is found in Genesis, chapters 18 and 19. In this text, the sexual depravity of the men of Sodom is portrayed.
Despite that, it does not explicitly say that their sexual predilections were the reason for the annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah. Even so, most readers make that assumption.
However, the prophet Ezekiel does explain the reason that the people of Sodom were punished so severely. It’s not what you think. Are you ready for the real reason? Sodom was destroyed because they “they did not help the poor and needy.”
That puts the idea of “wickedness” in a completely different perspective—God’s.
While sexual sin is a temptation we must avoid, it may be even more important that we don’t turn our back on the poor and needy.
Many verses in both the Old and New Testaments command us to assist the poor and those in need. But it’s easy to breeze past those verses and focus on others.
Yet God’s heart is that we help those in need. Consider what we may do to assist them and in doing so, obey God’s commands in the process.
Though Jesus said there will always be poor people, that doesn’t mean we don’t need to help them (Mark 14:7). We do. The Bible says so.
[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Ezekiel 16-17, and today’s post is on Ezekiel 16:49.]
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.
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