Psalm 15:5 (KJV) - "...nor taketh reward from the innocent..."
I know this verse is not exactly talking about fair trade issues or the exploitation of women and children. But my heart couldn't help the association.
Fair trade is definitely more expensive.
Fair trade is definitely less accessible.
But if my neighbor next door was the one sending their children off to work in hot, smoldering fields lined with guards that at anytime could physically take advantage of them, I know I would never support that industry. I couldn't bear to look in that mother's eyes and say that because I want to spend less on groceries, I'm going to support the business that's enslaving her children and family. But it's hard to actually look at that way, isn't it?
A lot of our resources are imported. So we don't see the corruption.
It's also such a big problem. It's all over the world. It's easy to think that one small purchase won't matter.
It's really not a matter of changing the world. Ultimately, only God can do that. For me, it's a matter of standing before God and knowing that I tried to think of Him in relation everything, and that includes my purchases.
1 Peter 4:10 (ESV) "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace."
We don't live in America because we earned it, and the children harvesting coffee and cocoa were simply born into life less fortunate than our own. Let's be gracious with our gifts and money as God has been gracious with His mercy not so that we can be puffed up in our good deeds but so that we can better shine forth His love to the world.
Here some links if you'd like to learn more about fair trade.
Criteria for conducting business fairly
Myths surrounding the fair trade industry
A Good Place to Start: 13 Products Most Likely To Be Made by Children or Forced Labor
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