Living in the Spirit
May 31, 2016

Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 17:8-16, (17-24)

Elijah said to her, ‘Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah. –1 King 17:13-16

Elijah was sent to address the injustices in his land. He experienced that first hand when he met a widow planning to use the last food in the house and saw with his own eyes the hopelessness of starvation in a world where others did not comprehend or even care. They were more a part of the problem than they were of any solution.

I am constantly told that raising the minimum wage will do no good. Some now earning it might lose their jobs because the business could not afford the additional costs. Anyway, if the minimum wage goes up the prices of everything will just go up also and these wage earners will be right back where they started. I can make a pretty compelling argument that if the minimum wage were raised, the earners would put it back into the economy which would increase demand which would increase sales which would increase profits. We spin this same web over and over again and nothing results.

Isaiah may have suggested the solution in Isaiah 43:19 when he quotes God as saying:
I am about to do a new thing;
   now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
   and rivers in the desert.

We need to step out of our circles of inertia and find God’s new thing that will lead to justice. My state is heavy into giving businesses tax incentives to increase employment, why don’t we give them tax incentive to pay a living wage or a heavier tax burden if they do not? Many people struggling to survive on minimum wage face the shaming of using food stamps or child care subsidies or Medicaid. These programs are primarily wage supplement programs for businesses not paying adequate salaries. The poor and the middle class in general pay the taxes that provide these supplements. Justice is out there; it needs to be more deeply explored.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see the new things that will make justice a reality throughout our world. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.