One of the benefits of social justice

Last week at church we had a guest speaker, a pastor from River Heights Vineyard Church. He was talking about caring for the poor, and particularly highlighted Isaiah 58:10-11:

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.

What I find interesting about this passage from The Message is that not only are we called to serve the poor, but there's a benefit to us as well. That benefit is God's guidance and a full life.