Weekly devotion: How can you reflect Jesus’ love to people in need?
Tahaddi, Beirut
View from Tahaddi's building
This week, we’re praying for our partner Tahaddi in Lebanon. Tahaddi (which means ‘challenge’ in Arabic) is an organisation that offers holistic support to families facing extreme economic hardship through health, education and psychosocial services. The families it serves are economically vulnerable and live in the informal settlement of Hay El Gharbeh in southern Beirut.
The cost of medical care in Lebanon is unaffordable for many families. According to the World Bank, in 2024 some 44% of Lebanon’s population lives below the poverty line - a three-fold increase compared to a decade prior. Embrace supports the Tahaddi Health Centre to provide over 7,000 free medical and social services consultations annually. We are also funding ophthalmic treatment, adaptive equipment and physical therapy. Over 2,000 individuals each year are expected to benefit from these primary care services.
Bible verses:
2 Corinthians 8:9:
‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.’
Philippians 2: 5-8:
‘In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!’
Thought
As we are confronted with poverty in this world, it is important for us to remember that the God we worship is no stranger to poverty. These Bible verses remind us of the extent to which Christ humbled himself – leaving the glory of heaven behind to take on human flesh and grow up in an ordinary, poor family. He lived as a refugee in Egypt in his early childhood and then in an obscure town with a bad reputation in Palestine (‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ John 1: 46). Meanwhile, time and again we see examples in Jesus’ ministry of his love and concern for marginalised and vulnerable people.
Ask yourself: How can you reflect Christ’s sacrificial love to others in need?
Prayer
Loving God,
We pray for the many families living in Hay El Gharbeh who are facing extreme economic hardship. You know them each by name and you understand their struggles – please be near to them in this time of challenge.
We thank you for Tahaddi – may it continue to be a beacon of hope in a dark situation. Help the staff as they respond to the many challenges that poverty creates. May they continue to reflect Christ’s compassion as they strive to create a more just society.
Thank you that you are a God with a heart for people living in poverty – help us to reflect this in our own lives.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Impact Stories
Thanks to your support, we’re helping people facing poverty, injustice and marginalisation in the Middle East:
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