Ezekiel 16:49 (ESV)
Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and
her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid
the poor and needy.
She was just fifteen and had just graduated from a
lace-making school in Brugge, far different from the universities we now know.
These schools were more like children's sweat shops, with the emphasis on
sweat. She was actually a bit old to be in such a school. 5 years-old girls
were attending it, hunching over lace pillows twelve hours a day.
Lace, the latest vogue, had begun to be popular in the
16th century. Even two centuries later, men favored giving lace items to their
beloved ones, and it was always being received with sheer admiration. And women
weren't the only ones to adorn themselves with lace. Men, especially those in
high society, used it to dress up their attire as well!
Unfortunately, those who toiled making these precious
gifts were totally ignored. Thousands of girls and women sacrificed their
health to make this delicate lace, and despite long hours, they hardly made
enough to make ends meet. Why? Because the stores naturally received a decent
profit for selling the lace, and those who served as the go-betweens between
the workers and the merchants also took 15-35% of the profits. In the end, the
ones who made the lace, and thus deserved to profit from it, were paid an
outrageously small salary. They were generally earning less than half of what a
regular factory worker was making.
How many poor have we helped so far? Unless we live on an
otherwise uninhabited island, there are poor around us everywhere. They are
hungry for relief from their circumstances, and even more so, they hunger for
hope. Will we provide them with what they hunger for?
It is true that there are those who specialize in deceit.
They aren't poor at all, nonetheless, they beg for money. We all have met this
kind of person. Let us not fall into the trap of "Because of the increase
of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold," (Matthew 24:12).
Love is always the answer. If it were not for the fact
that love came down from heaven, where would we be? Where would our hope be? If
love had not been willingly to die on a cross for each one of us, where would
we turn? Love is the answer to all problems, our own included.
Dear Lord, help us have open eyes and open hearts to the
world around us. Help us have a tender heart to help those that need help. In
the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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