Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. - Galatians 6:10
Throughout the Bible you can find Scripture about love, compassion, helping the poor, widowed and orphans. We give money to our churches to help with their outreach ministries, many of whom are thousands of miles overseas. A lot of these ministries have the focus of reaching out to non-believers by showing them the love of Jesus through God's grace and mercy. The focus of these ministries need to continue to be on their successes to increase their impact for the kingdom.
This verse is very clear in saying that we are to do good "especially" to those who believe in Jesus Christ; the family of believers. This is not to exclude anyone one else, but more to exhort us to look out and care for those that believe in the Messiah. The key word for me here is "family". We are constantly confronted with making choices in our lives. There are those mundane everyday choices like what will I have for dinner or what movie do I want to see. Then there are the more serious choices we make regarding members of our family as opposed to a non-member.
What would you do if there was only one bite left to eat and on one hand you had your starving child that you could give it to and on the other there was another starving child who you did not know. There is no nobility involved here. The choice I would make would be to feed my starving child. My child is part of my family. That does not mean that I would not be grieving for the other child, but I would take care of my family first.
We are told to love one another, but even love has it's priorities. There are hard decisions to be made in life, but we have to obey what God teaches, even when it doesn't make sense at times.
This verse is very clear in saying that we are to do good "especially" to those who believe in Jesus Christ; the family of believers. This is not to exclude anyone one else, but more to exhort us to look out and care for those that believe in the Messiah. The key word for me here is "family". We are constantly confronted with making choices in our lives. There are those mundane everyday choices like what will I have for dinner or what movie do I want to see. Then there are the more serious choices we make regarding members of our family as opposed to a non-member.
What would you do if there was only one bite left to eat and on one hand you had your starving child that you could give it to and on the other there was another starving child who you did not know. There is no nobility involved here. The choice I would make would be to feed my starving child. My child is part of my family. That does not mean that I would not be grieving for the other child, but I would take care of my family first.
We are told to love one another, but even love has it's priorities. There are hard decisions to be made in life, but we have to obey what God teaches, even when it doesn't make sense at times.
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