Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The Press-Enterprise of Riverside ran a disturbing column by Leonard Pitts. He had discovered e-mails that had flown back and forth between Michael Brown (head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency) and his subordinates during the Katrina hurricane disaster. While people’s homes were being demolished and many were dying, these officials were callously discussing what clothes to wear on TV that would make them look good. And Governor Kathleen Blanco’s aides were doing the same, says Pitts. His column is titled, “Preening Amid Disaster.”

 

Then he comments: “Is it really necessary to point out that when people—your countrymen, no less—are homeless, hungry and dying in the face of natural disaster, your first duty as an official, not to mention as a member of the human race, is not to do political calculus or worry about how you look on camera? It is to help” (emphasis mine).

 

Pitts probably didn’t get the connection, but he was alluding to the biblical Day of Atonement. It was the one day in the ancient calendar year when Israel were to fast in sympathy with God who is forced to bear on His heart the pain and agony of a world in disaster. It was a day for self-centered, proud, worldly people (like us all) to be “reconciled to God” and learn to love our fellow men (cf. 2 Cor. 5:19). That ancient typical day prefigured our modern antitypical “Day” of Atonement that encompasses the “cleansing of the sanctuary” of Daniel 8:14. It’s a time of judgment. We’ve been into that “Day” some 160 years; as “members of the human race” we cannot “preen” and thoughtlessly wallow in luxuries and dissipations while multitudes of our fellow humans exist and die in agony. Jesus Christ invites us to “overcome” and sit with Him on His throne as He “overcame and sat with [His] Father on [His] throne” (Rev. 3:20)—in other words, share with Him executive authority in bringing to an end the agony in this world. Big invitation!

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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