Nowadays, social responsibility has become like a brand that everyone wants to wear, but no one wears the brand of social justice and compassion better than Jesus Christ.
Walking the face of the earth healing people, blessing the poor, and teaching and educating the underprivileged, Jesus was the epitome of social responsibility. He even took to the cross His own life in order to save the whole world that had been condemned to spiritual poverty. So if the God we serve is socially responsible, should we not as the body of Christ - the communion of saints - respond in being socially responsible too?
There is no question that God values the poor and desires that His followers value the poor as well. Proverbs 19:17 tells us, "He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done."
The early church - a template of compassion
Even the early church was compelled by a revelation of Christ to be compassionate towards those who were in need. Acts 4:34-35 says: "There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles 'feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need."
Imagine that: a church giving sacrificially for those who didn't have meals to eat or houses to live in. And what caused them to give so generously to those in need was an understanding that because they now had Christ, they were already blessed. Ephesians 1:3 says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."
Not by our own strength
And the thing about this compassion that the church is to have is that it is never obliged or required of us. But when we truly understand God's grace and are empowered by Holy Spirit, we will respond in compassion to the underprivileged.
We, today, share in the same blessings of the early church - we have Christ, and when we have Christ, we are blessed to be a blessing. God's overflowing and overwhelming blessings through Christ were never meant to be hoarded by believers.
The blessings we receive in abundant supply were meant to be shared. We are called by God to be channels of blessing claiming that as we trust in God and obey Him in generosity, He will not let His channels run out of provision.
