Having compassion and mercy to feed the hungry glorifies God...it's a fruit of the Spirit. Our motive and goal is not to make the world a better place.....that is building with the wood, hay and stubble of this world, temporal things. Our goal is to glorify God and save souls for eternity. This world is just temporal brother, but we are seeking an eternal kingdom, not this temporal one. We're told to seek those things which are above and to fix our eyes on what is unseen (eternal) not on what is seen (temporal).
My goal is to draw as close to God as I'm able, to be as much like Jesus as I am able. I look for God to do that work within me, as He continues to repair my will, and to build my ability. Because the fact is that I'm not building myself, God is building me. I am His workmanship, and He's laid out all those works I should do as a pathway before me.
We set our affections on heaven because that's where Jesus is, that's where we are in Him, in the heavenly realm, so keep our minds there. And we still walk in those works, and now the question becomes, what works?
It's not the Law, that's death. It's not some new "NT Law", maybe composed from the Sermon on the Mount, or some of the letters, that's not what they are about.
The works are the ones God ordained for us, but how do we know them? The Law we are to follow is the Law of Love. We sacrifice ourselves to do what is good for others, and in fact God has told us, the good that you know to do, and you do not do, that is sin.
We know that there is immeasurable worth in sharing the Gospel so that others can know Him. Same for living a holy life, doing righteousness, the best we are able, to have a good testimony, and to be fruitful.
What else is in your heart to do? There are the things we can directly do ourselves, giving to the poor, or whatever it may be, and in this country we have the opportunity to have a say, at least if things work right, in the conditions in which we live. So given the opportunity, I give my say in that I think will best care for the needs of the people.
The Apostles told the people, choose out 7 men from amongst yourselves to oversee the distribution. This was a practical administrative appointment, and the people were to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Maybe the two ditches here are, 1, become so wrapped up in the social and wordly concerns so as to miss the walking by faith, or, 2, to ignore that we can have a profound influence on our personal liberties and living conditions, thus allowing resources to dwindle and doors to close.
Remember the king and the prophet, "strike your arrows against the floor", then, "Why didn't you do more? You would have won!" Are we supposed to be doing more?
We trust in God to open doors, to keep them open as He desires. Is it His intent that we join Him in this work also? As we do our part? That God will bring deliverance to those in need, but we may miss out.
Much love!