Pastor Brett Blair writes, “Some years ago before the death of Mother Theresa, a television special depicted the grim human conditions that were a part of her daily life. It showed all the horror of the slums of Calcutta and her love for these destitute people. The producer interviewed her as she made her rounds in that dreadful place. Throughout the program, commercials interrupted the flow of the discussion. Here is the sequence of the topics and commercials: lepers (perfume for sale); mass starvation (designer jeans); agonizing poverty (fur coats); abandoned babies (ice cream sundaes) the dying (diamond watches).

The irony was so apparent. Two different worlds were on display— the world of the poor and the world of the affluent. It seems that our very culture here in the United States, and any other place that has a great deal of commercialization to it, is teaching us to live as the Rich Man in the story of Lazarus.

We are occasionally presented with the images of the poor man Lazarus at our gate, but we are immediately reminded of the next car we ought to buy and the next meal we should eat.”

Let us not allow our minds to become numb to the plight of many in this world. We must care.