“And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,”

‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭11:19‬ ‭ESV‬‬‬‬‬

Over this weekend I have been challenged, God has spoken to me and I could easily have missed what He was saying. On Saturday we went to the cinema and through the film I started to recognise how little I knew about the plight of other people in different cultures. I think we get used to seeing through our own life lens or that which is promoted by the media. Inequality abounds everywhere, but even this brings into question what I hold to be fair and just. Thankfully I have the Word of God to cling to, I know that this will be resolved when the Jesus, the king of justice will return, but how am I to act now?

Thinking of the people that we serve am I prepared to question what I see, am I prepared to challenge my perception, am I prepared to take off my myopic filter, am I prepared to pray Lord let me see as you see? Working with a group of people that are vulnerable and in many ways are marginalised by society, brings many challenges and very little thanks. The pressure is on to expect them to behave to society’s norms and conventions, treating them like the majority of other agencies, but surely God has called us to a higher standard.

Jesus walked amongst the multitudes, He reached out to the vulnerable, the lonely, the hurting and the ostracised. The King of Glory laid aside His majesty and had compassion for the people, hurt and abused he cried out “Father forgive them”. I know that I am the one who sets the tone in my work environment, Lord give me the strength to love as you love, replace my calloused heart with a new heart of flesh.