The Poor? Who Cares!!
“In
Jesus Christ?? 32AD
No, Jesus Christ never ever made such a base statement. But all too often some professing Christians say such things. And be sure of this – when such words are said, it’s not a slip of the tongue. It is an articulated deliberated thought oozing from a critical mind.
In the Old Testament, God promised to materially bless the Jews if they obeyed Him. Their gardens would flourish. Their flocks would multiply and their cupboards would be full. (By the way, that’s an OT promise for the Jews – not for modern day Christians.)
‘For there will never cease to be poor in the land.
Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother,
to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
(Deuteronomy 15:11)
In light of God’s promise of material blessings to His earthly people IF they obeyed Him, the Jews could have said about their neighbors who were living in poverty: “Well, if they were obeying God they wouldn’t be living in poverty. There’s no need for them to be in that condition – not in
Isn’t the heart of God different from ours? He acknowledges that there will always be people living in poverty for one reason or another. Had there never been sin in the human race – there would be no poverty. He doesn’t say: “Let them get up off their duffs and start making ends meet like everybody else. Don’t give them a red cent!” No, repeatedly the message throughout the Bible is: Be kind and compassionate to the poor. Give generously to the poor.
Notice that it does not say: ‘Give generously to the lazy.’ And that is the hook upon which most of us hang our hats. We look at poverty and dismiss it and say – “Let them get a job like everyone else. I work hard to earn my money – they can too!”
The only time we are authorized in the Bible to withhold help from someone is when we are certain the only contributing factor to their dire situation is ‘sheer laziness.’ (2Thessalonians 3:10) The context there is lazy Christians and usually we are poor judges of root causes.
Nine times out of ten, poverty is much more complex than just plain slothful laziness. Children often grow up in such desperate environments they feel powerless to ever leverage themselves out of the sad conditions of their upbringing and they repeat what they learned from their parents. Poor role models in their lives; discrimination; racism; physical and mental illnesses; addictions; physical and sexual abuse; low self esteem; and the list goes on. Poverty is rarely caused by the one factor called ‘laziness’.
The condemnation for Christians living in the developed countries is we love the poor and needy in the third world countries but we have low tolerance and little pity for those who live on our doorsteps. In fact, we move away from them. We say nice things about the far away poor but nasty things about the nearby poor.
Jesus said: “The poor had the Gospel preached to them.” Matthew 11:5. Renew your commitment to reaching out to the poor in your community with compassion and the Gospel.
Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.
Warmly in Christ
Peter Ramsay