Daily Economic Justice and the Kingdom

Dear God of Love and Justice,

When Jesus said, "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat," He wasn't speaking in metaphor. He was pointing to the single mother counting coins at the grocery checkout, quietly putting the bread back because the milk costs more this week. He was pointing to the retired veteran eating cereal for dinner in a dark apartment because the electric bill and the prescription couldn't both be paid. He was pointing to the child who eats free lunch at school on Friday and nothing warm again until Monday morning.

Lord, forgive me for the times I've walked past Your face in the food pantry line and didn't recognize You. Forgive me for treating charity as a checkbox rather than an encounter with the living Christ. Open my eyes to see that every economic system, every budget line, every tip I leave and every wage I pay is a theological statement about whose image I believe these people bear.

Give me the courage of the early church in Acts, who held nothing back and ensured no one among them had need. Make me an Evangelical in the truest sense — one who carries good news that fills both the soul and the stomach.