Thoughts On Poverty

(Mine and Amber von Schooneveld from Hope Lives and a few others)

I've been told that there are over 2,000 verses in the Bible concerning poverty, the needy, the oppressed, widows and orphans. With that many verses, it must be of utmost importance to the creator. The One who created those in need. Why is it then, that the subject isn't often spoken of from the pulpit? Why are people afraid to hear such messages? Or are they? I'm just wondering.
"There will always be poor people in the land." Deuteronomy 15:11 If this verse is right, how can we even begin to put a "dent" into the problem of poverty? One child at a time, one person at a time, one project at a time?
For those of you who like to see statistics, here's a few:
1.2 billion people in the world are living in extreme poverty on less than a dollar a day.
Nearly 30,000 children under the age of 5 are dying each day of hunger and preventable diseases.
38.6 million people are diagnosed with HIV worldwide.
1.2 million children are trafficked each year as slaves.
854 million people are hungry today.
The Gross National Income per capita in the USA in 2003 was $37,610. In India it was $530. In Ethiopia it was $90.
I wonder if this is what God invisioned when he created the world--when he created man. God explains to us in Isaiah 58:1-3, 5-7 what He believes true fasting to be:
"Why have we fasted," they say, "and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?" Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers...
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
What does God want from us His church? James says that "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress." (James 1:27)
Does this mean to ignore them or to help them? Do we neglect them or do we care for them?
I need to open my eyes to the choices I'm making. "I've been commissioned by God to use my power, resources, and love to reach out to the poor and oppressed in the world." (Amber Van Schooneveld) Paul tells me: "Don't be selfish...Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others too." (Philippians 2:3-4)
God would like to see that each of his people would have enough bread to live on day by day and be given enough dignity to thrive. That's God's justice. True charity is love. True charity is mercy. Bono stated: "This is not about charity in the end, is it? It's about justice...I just want to repeat that: This is not about charity, it's about justice." "Mercy goes beyond justice...Mercy is costly. Look what it cost God: the infinitely precious life of his own Son." Peter Kreeft--Back To Virtue
Love motivates us. Christ wants to transform me by his love. God wants to transform me into a new person. He asks that I love Him and love others. Do I love Him enough to love the poor? I hope so, because "he who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." (Proverbs 14:31)
Becoming like and loving the poor was at the heart of Christ's ministry.
Matthew 25:31-46 According to this passage, if I see someone hungry and I don't feed him, if I see someone naked and don't clothe him.....
John says: 'let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
Helping those in need is central to following Christ. "He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?' declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 22:16)
We become Christ to those we help.
"God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them." Bono