Shocking

There are times when something you are reading really hits you between the eyes and makes you sit up and take note.  I was shocked by two pieces in the Autumn edition of 'TEAR TIMES', the magazine of Tearfund, a Christian charity engaged in the fight against poverty in today's world.

Here is the first:

"East Africa is in crisis with 23 million people facing desperate food shortages - according to the UN, it's the largest humanitarian crisis since the second world war.  As is so often the case, it is the women and children who suffer the most.  More than 800,000 children under five are severely malnourished."

As those words began to sink in, I tried to recall any recent mention of this "largest humanitarian crisis since the second world war" in our news media.  Compared with this devastating situation, the kind of stuff which so often fills our news headlines these days seems so trite and relatively unimportant.  How can we turn such a blind eye to what is going on in our world and the millions who are suffering as a consequence?

If that extract Tear Times wasn't enough, something else I read also took my breath away:

"A third of all food produced in the world is never eaten.  Not only is this a moral challenge when millions go hungry, but the wasteful grow-and-throw cycle is also contributing significantly to climate change - hitting those who live in poverty the hardest."

When this almost unbelievable statistic is combined with the earlier paragraph, it is hard not to weep, and wonder how we as a human race have got things so dreadfully wrong.  We call ourselves a civilised society, we pride ourselves on our great achievements, we spend billions on weapons of war, and yet we apparently turn a blind eye to those millions of our human family who find themselves in desperate need.

Jesus told a story of a man who was beaten by robbers and left for dead by the roadside.  Two religious people came by but continued on their journey, leaving the man laying on the road.  Another man came along who was of the hated Samaritan race.  This man had compassion on the one lying on the road; he helped get him to safety and attended to his needs.  I ask myself, as I think of the human tragedy unfolding in East Africa, which am I like - the ones who passed by or the one who stopped to help?  Is that same compassion in my heart?  How will I respond?

I am challenged by the words of the Apostle John, 'Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth' (1 John 3.18).

God forgive us.  God help us.  God melt our hearts.  God show us how to respond.