“This award is being terminated for the convenience and the interest of the U.S. government,” read the email distributed last week by the State Department. The recipients? Programs that support some of the world’s poorest people.

According to The New York Times, the 5,800 affected organizations serve refugees, treat people with tuberculosis and HIV, vaccinate children against polio, provide mosquito nets to prevent malaria and wells for clean drinking water, distribute medical supplies, prevent the spread of disease, shelter women who have been abused and raped, deliver maternity care, postnatal care and other medical services, distribute lifesaving nutrition and more.

“People will die,” Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, was quoted by Stephanie Nolan of the Times as saying. “But we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”

For our convenience, people will die.

If we let them.

For followers of Christ, the path is clear. Throughout Scripture, God calls on the those who do what is right to care for the poor: refugees, widows, orphans, and those who’ve been cast out. Those who do will be blessed by God. Those who do not will be judged.

“There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you,” says James 2:13 (NLT). The New Living Translation calls this “the royal law,” loving your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus stood not with the powerful, but with the poor. When asked whether to financially support an oppressive government, he told his followers to “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God” (Matthew 22:21).

To Caesar: Taxes.

To God: Everything else.

The Romans, who occupied the Holy Land during the time of Jesus, subjugated others to elevate themselves. “But among you it will be different,” Jesus said. “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave” (Matthew 20:25-26).

Jesus, who Scripture calls the King of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords, “came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

So must we.

When our government and our faith part ways, follow Jesus.

I think of friends faithfully serving in Haiti through New Missions, providing food, education and spiritual encouragement in the middle of a national crisis that has sent other aid organizations running. And another friend, faithfully caring for orphaned and abandoned children in Uganda through Welcome Home Ministries Africa and its new medical clinic. And I think of the countless Christian aid organizations faithfully delivering food, clean water, medicine, shelter, education, opportunity and hope to millions. Not in the name of government, but in the name of Love.

There are many types of protest.

Let a tidal wave of generosity be ours. During this season of Lent, look up a lifesaving organization delivering hope. There are so many to choose from – International Justice Mission, Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision, Compassion International, Joni & Friends, Mercy Ships… Then become a regular donor so that we too may stand with the poor.

Midcoast author Meadow Rue Merrill writes about faith, hope and stories at Meadow’s Field Journal on Substack. Connect at meadowrue.com.