Convictions from the book of Luke

In my Bible reading today I came across Luke 4:18.  Jesus is at the beginning of His ministry and He reads from Isaiah in the synagogue and says:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."

In this passage, Jesus is defining His ministry.  To preach to the poor, to release the captives, to free the oppressed and give sight to the blind. 

And I can't help but notice that not many churches today follow Christ's example.  Sure, we give money to help these causes, but we don't make it personal.  We don't actually interact with the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed.

We create children's ministries and women's ministries and Bible studies, and that is great, these things are needed and good.  But I believe there is a problem when we LIMIT our ministries to the people already inside the church walls who look and act and believe just like we do.

I am as guilty of it as anybody.  It is easy to talk but it is difficult to get out of your comfort zone and GO.  So I am praying today that God will give me the strength to put aside my fears and my prejudices and my uncomfortableness, and give me an opportunity to go and do.  Because I am new to the area, I don't know what the need is here; I don't know where or who, but that is not an excuse to sit back and forget about it.  I will be on the lookout for the place where God wants me to serve.

Let's follow Christ's example and go into our communities, get our hands dirty, and share the love of Jesus with those who need Him the most.