Why then, are there still people in this world going hungry?

You have plenty, yet too many starve to death. Only one is too many, but there are many more than one who have, and will today and tomorrow.

Why are so many still living in absolute squalor? Without the basic necessities which the majority of you take for granted?

Is your response to tell me, but Lord, we do give, and too much of what we give never gets to those who need it, but is taken by corrupt rulers and officials? Be sure of this, I will deal with those corrupt ones, and their arrogance and greed will not do them a bit of good in eternity.

Much of what you give does reach those in need. But ask yourself, are you giving enough? Do not the lands that have plenty have enough to help those which don’t, so that all have a chance at the gift of life given by the Father? It could be your child starving. Would you not move mountains to get your child fed? Clothed? Medical treatment? Those may not be your children. But, they are my children.

For that which you give that doesn’t reach its destination, does that excuse my Church from continuing to get lifesaving help to those who need it? Can you not keep working to find ways to reach those cut off by dangerous conditions and dishonest officials?

I know there are many of you who are working hard to help provide for those in need, both in your immediate area and throughout the whole world. You are learning the meaning of saving one’s life by losing it for others, giving so much. How about the rest of you, which I am sad to say, is a greater number of people? What are you doing to help those who are helping, who give their lives in service to those that the rest of the world would just as soon forget?

I know there are those who seek help that may not truly be in need. Those that use the "system" and take what they can get. But again, does that excuse you who have an abundance from giving? And giving more?

I love you more than you can ever know in this life. That does not change. But if you love me, as I said before, keep my commandments. Those were not intended as mere suggestions. Do you recall me saying something about being hungry and you fed me, naked and you clothed me, sick and you healed me? Or, as the case may be, hungry and you did not feed me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and you did not heal me? Which of the two are you?

Do not insult me by saying feeding those in need "isn’t really sharing the Gospel." Would you say that to someone standing in front of you who was starving? Would you "share the Gospel" with someone who was hungry without sharing food as well?

Again, do not forget that I love you, and always will. Every one of you matters to me. But so does every one of them.

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This is us at the website talking now. We hope you do not think we are being presumptious or blasphemous by representing the above as coming from God. We are not God, and we are not His "spokespersons." We are Christian believers, however, and we have seen people in need and continue to, and wonder if we do enough, and know that we do not.

The reason we wrote the above is simple: we believe there is nothing wrong with Christians being active in "politics," and we think believers have a responsibility to vote and stay informed on the issues of the day. But, if all we are doing as Christians is "preaching at" people, or "taking stands" on a variety of issues, then we are not obeying God. We are not keeping the commandments of Jesus. For if there are people in need, and you know there are and will be always in this life, then we, as the Church, as God’s hands and feet in this world, have an unending responsibility to seriously address those needs, and not just talk the talk.

We are concerned about the issues facing this country. We think it is time for those of us who do not identify with the secular Left to get with it, politically, wake up, and take a stand. We say enough about what we think that means elsewhere on this site. But, if you are a person of faith, or simply someone who thinks caring about others is a vital part of how we should live, then do not let your "politics" keep you from the even more important calling–that of loving others as you would yourself, and faithfully doing what you can do to help those in need. As far as we are concerned, the "religious right" is neither religious nor right if its members fail to do that.

We do believe that Christians are on the whole the most generous people on earth. Americans are also, regardless of their religious affiliation or lack thereof. Please realize that we write these things to ourselves as well as anyone else reading them, and we have no desire to join in the "bashing" of Christians, especially those of the evangelical or mainline variety, that is done too often by Big Media. That being said, we also believe that Christians who fail to look at themselves as God sees them can also lose focus–of what God intends them to be, and intends for them to do.

But consider this: what if everyone in the entire world, except one person, had enough to eat, decent living conditions, and was in a relatively healthy and safe situation. If that one person in the entire world starved to death, and someone realized it, don’t you think that would be a "huge" news story? Special news programs just on that topic: the unfortunate one’s life, how it happened, where he or she lived and under what conditions, interviews of relatives and friends and acquaintances. Hours and hours of television coverage. Perhaps a "movie of the week" for TV or even the theaters. Yet today, at this very moment, there are many, many more who are starving. In the time it has taken you to read this column, more than that one has died from malnourishment. What attention is given to so many?

God has commanded us to act, and act in love. He acted in love for us. We can do no less for Him, and for those living in the world He created.

We made this suggestion, or challenge, in an earlier column, "I Like Mike..." : If you are in a Sunday School class or another small group, why not collect $200 per quarter, four times a year, over and above what is normally given by the members to the church or other place of worship or fellowship. That’s less than $17 a week; if your group has 17 members, that sets them back a dollar each a week. Half of that amount can be sent to a local concern, where you live, that feeds people or otherwise helps the less fortunate. The other $100 can be sent to a relief agency elsewhere in the world, be it Kenya, the Sudan, parts of Central America, or other locations. Eight hundred dollars a year may not sound like much, but it would be eight hundred more than is being given now, multiplied many times over, if many undertook this challenge.

You may have other ideas. Giving money is not the only way to help others, obviously. You may take opportunities to give your time and energy to worthy causes. This is not a "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" philosophy–communism hasn’t done much for our world, which is a big reason why it has failed miserably in various countries. This is a graceful way of giving to others, not because we have to, but because it’s the right thing to do, and we get blessed by giving to others as an added bonus.

All of us matter to God. Including the downtrodden and the forgotten–perhaps even, especially those. When we reach out to them, it shows that they matter to us as well.