Weekly devotion: Loving people on the margins
Al Kafaàt Foundation
Two young boys enjoy sensory play activities at Al Kafaàt
This week we’re praying for our partner, the Al Kafaàt Foundation, in Lebanon. As a humanitarian organisation, the Foundation runs educational, vocational, medical and residential programmes that all help to improve the quality of life of over 1,000 children every year.
In Lebanon, people living with disabilities are not accepted into mainstream education and the Government has not developed rehabilitation services or special education programmes. Lebanon has always relied on private initiatives, many of which require high fees. Al Kafaàt is the largest – and it offers all of its services free of charge.
Al Kafaàt is passionate about building an inclusive society, where people with disabilities are not left behind. Thanks to its boarding facilities, it receives Lebanese people from all over the country, from different backgrounds and religions. Its rehabilitation programme provides 750 people with an individualised rehabilitation plan, including a huge range of services such as physical therapy, speech therapy and paediatric neurology.
Bible reading
‘He [Jesus] said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”’
Luke 14:12-14
Thought
Jesus’ words in these verses were directed at a group of Pharisees who delighted in being the ‘great and good’ in their society and held little regard for people they deemed were beneath them in status. Unlike the Pharisees, Jesus had deep compassion for people on the margins. Inspired by Jesus’ compassion, the staff at Al Kafaàt rightly see people living with disabilities as image-bearers of God and treat all with the love, care and respect they deserve.
Ask yourself: What does it look like to be inclusive in your life? Think about practical ways you can model Jesus’ compassion for others.
Prayer
Compassionate God,
We thank you for your love. Your amazing love, which surpasses all understanding, and reached its pinnacle on the cross at Calvary.
We thank you that your love knows no limits. That this same love flows from the staff at Al Kafaàt, as they serve children and adults living with disabilities, and as they seek to promote an inclusive society. We pray that you would continue to bless their work, especially in this time of economic crisis in Lebanon.
Help us as we also seek to walk in love and teach us to see other people as you see them.
In Jesus’ name, Amen
Inspired by what you read here? Share it on social (don’t forget to tag Embrace!):
