Red Letters

    So I just finished reading an incredible book called Red Letters by Tom Davis. Red Letters is unlike any book I’ve ever read. It is a quick and easy read but you can only take it one chapter at a time because it’s so compelling and heart wrenching. Red Letters is about not only reading Christ’s red letters in the bible but actually living these words out. It’s about being Christ’s hands and feet to the poor, the disenfranchised, the weary, the ill, the fatherless, the prisoners. Davis says, “The gospel wasn’t only meant to be read-it was meant to be lived.” 

 

     Davis focuses mostly on the HIV/AIDS pademic around the world. He says, “Our poor would be considered rich in most countries. What do  I mean by poverty? Poverty is having very little food to eat. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty has many faces and none of them is pretty. Consider these difficult-to-comprehend facts: 1.2 billion people are estimated to live on less than one dollar per day, and almost 3 billion on less than two dollars per day. Do the math: That’s 3.9 billion of the 6.5 billion people who live in our world.”

 

     Davis doesn’t try to use a guilt trip in this book or ask you to send him a lot of money, his only desire is for CHIRSTians to start living like CHIRST! If Christ were still here on earth He would be hanging out with the widows and orphans. He would be spending time with the sick, the hurt, and the hopeless. He would be giving hope to the hopeless. We are suppose to be Christ’s hand and feet so we should be doing the very same things He did while He was on earth and the very things He would still be doing on earth today! One verse that Davis goes back to over and over again in Red Letters is Matthew 25:31- 40. “For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me. Then these righteous ones will reply, Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you? And the King will tell them, ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

    “That’s what this book is about. Learning to live a faith that is so real, you bleed Jesus. Here’s how to start: Look for Jesus every morning in the eyes of the people you meet. And then look for him in the mirror.”

 

    I think the reason we don’t get up out of our chairs and do something is because we get complacent and apathetic. Our prayer should be that God would move us out of our chair’s and into loving the fatherless! We can’t each cure poverty on our own but we can do our small part in His BIG story! Go to www.fivefor50.com to take the Five for 50 challenge or to find out more about it. If you want to read Red Letters you should buy it from www.betterworld.com