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When we know of the need of a disabled or elderly person, or another who is needy, and we say (or think), "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but we DO nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." These startling words are not a modern opinion, but a quotation from the New Testament. A dead faith is a dreaded situation that we should flee from like the plague. Lord save us all from being infected with an aliment whose symptoms reveal that our faith is DEAD.The antidote is Christian compassionate action in behalf of a needy person. The underlying motivation to demonstrate such action grows out of a close encounter with Jesus Christ. Zacchaeus, who had been a rich tax collector suddenly was transformed into a generous person. The tax collectors of that day typically were unfair and greedy people. Yet he said, after spending a short time with Jesus, Master, here and now I will give half my possessions to the poor and if I have cheated anyone I will pay back four fold. |