The sunrise has been beautiful this week; it has stunned me and moved me to marvel at God’s creation. As I watch the sun blazing as a red-orange sphere only just inches above the horizon, I’m inspired that I’ve been given another day…a new day to do things right…a new day to enjoy…a new day to love well, laugh often, bless others, and find success. It’s a new day to honor God and to do it better than I did it the day before…a new day to be a voice for those unheard, for the orphan that he may no longer be an orphan…a new day to treasure my son, love my husband, and work toward creating havens for other children who need a home.
Then I’m reminded of scripture, “…For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45, ESV) You see, the sun also rises on the wicked. The wicked are also blessed with another day. The bible teaches that by their very existence on earth, they are blessed with fresh days and rain for their crops just as the righteous are. They benefit from its warmth and newness as the righteous do. There is a new day to enslave women and girls in the skin trade…a new day to exploit children in Haiti as restavek “servants”…a new day to hook kids on drugs, recruit little boys for vigilante armies, spread racial hatred, and disenfranchise those with quiet voices. A new day rape and pillage, to take and use and profit with no thought for the devastation it creates.
Thankfully, that’s not the end of the story. God also says, ” …be sure your sin will find you out…” (Numbers 32:23 ESV) and, “…have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known” (Matthew 10:26 ESV). Justice WILL be doled out in due time and God will create redemptive beauty from the ashes of sin. So, let’s go back where we started. Every morning we’re given a new day. So, friends, let’s do plan to live well and laugh often. Get involved with organizations like Women at Risk, or support efforts like that of GLA in Haiti. These are efforts to redeem precious ones out of modern-day slavery, and to provide the kind of care and education that allows for long-term sustainable protection from exploitation. At the very least, reach out to do something supportive of an adoptive family that you know.
And the beauty is that these organizations do what they do in the name of Christ. Because of wickedness, Christ died and rose to reign. He has provided the way of redemption and in that provision He is called the Father to the fatherless…the caretaker and lover of the “least of these”.
Jesus teaches us that the poor will always be with us. Let us see the ministry opportunity in that rather than the defeat. Love, help redeem, give, pour out, and be blessed…with every new sunrise.
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