September 8, 2014
Dirty Faith: Bringing the Love of Christ to the Least of These
Who are the “least of these” that David Z. Nowell refers to in the title of his new book Dirty Faith: Bringing the Love of Christ to the Least of These? Well, quite simply, the least of these are the ones that everyone looks down upon. How can we show the love of Christ to the least of these? Is it by merely throwing money at a good cause, spending a few hours a week or month at a soup kitchen? Or maybe it’s something more – like investing your heart into someone.
Nowell writes very persuasively about loving the least of these in the slums of Brazil and how the solution is not merely spending money, or feeding the multitudes. But it is about changing the cultural image. Is there an abundance of orphans in your state? Are there children and adults being trafficked for the sex industry in your area, are there homeless and hungry? I’m sure there are – what is your perception of these people? What is your perception of yourself? Your perspective is most likely the cultural perspective too. Work on changing your perspective by seeing people as God sees them, a hurting child, and invest yourself into their lives. You’ll soon find that your perspective has changed along with those you do life with.
It is time to get our hands and hearts on the same page by living out our faith through loving not only those who look and think like ourselves, but those anyone could consider the least of these.
I enjoyed the book. There were plenty of statistics that could be verified, but it wasn’t just statistics; there were names and stories that exemplified those statistics. That made the problem seem more real – not that I thought it wasn’t, but it drove it home more. One point that made me really stop to think was – we are the face of God, we represent Him. What does your action or inaction say of Him?
*I was given a copy of this book by Bethany House in exchange for my honest opinion.
Living in Grace 
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