HELPING THE POOR

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

"If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.”

Leviticus 25:35-38

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The Lord has a heart for the poor. 

The Word of God makes this point very clear.

We see just one of many places validating this truth in today’s passage from the 25th chapter of the Book of Leviticus. Look again at what our Lord said there:

"If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.” Leviticus 25:35-38

These verses come from within the context of God’s establishment of guidelines that the Israelite people were to follow during the Year of Jubilee. Specifically in verses 35 through 38, He takes time to address how the poor in the community should be treated and we should note how it was His desire that everyone would have a decent lease on life. To that end, those who weren’t poor were to help those who were, creating an environment where everyone could co-exist and be cared for, despite socioeconomic differences.  

We read where sometimes people would need loans to get by financially and in those instances, God provided guidance to ensure the Israelite society at large wouldn’t impose any additional financial burden on the needy. He commanded that money was to be lent to them interest-free but we should note that it wasn’t that the Lord didn’t require people to repay their debts. He expected they would but put policy in place so they wouldn’t have interest offsetting their efforts to pay what was owed to where they could be freed from their financial liability.

In regard to food, we see where the people of God were ordered to not sell food to the needy without gaining a profit. This ensured the poor could afford to eat and survive.

Now, given all this, ask yourself these questions:

How well do we work to take care of the poor in our societies today?

Are we actively and intentionally seek to help people elevate themselves from poverty and financial hardship or do we simply turn a blind eye to the issues that are plainly before us?

Do we function as one people under one God, seeing each one equally as He does despite our worldly socioeconomic status? Or are we a community, society, nation, or world satisfied with being defined as those who have and those who don’t?

The World Bank, an organization that seeks to address and reduce poverty in the world offers some harrowing statistics that should trouble anyone with a true heart for the Lord. For by their estimates, there are between 700 and 800 million people in the world today who live on less than two dollars and fifteen cents a day, the established international poverty line. Doing the math, that would be a little more than 60 dollars as month.

Given that the world population is around 8 billion people, we can see that ten percent of the world’s people live at or below what is considered extreme poverty today. We can add to this another 44 percent of the world population who live on less than seven dollars a day or two hundred and ten dollars monthly.

Friends, that’s two out of every five people globally.

Now, couple that with some other statistics. For there are currently projected to be a little more than 3,000 billionaires and over 60 million millionaires in our world today with a few of those billionaires predicted to possible enter trillionaire status. A person making just one billion a year would be able to live on a little under 2 million, 800 thousand dollars a day while one making a million a year would earn two thousand, 800 dollars daily.

That’s a far cry from between two and six dollars a day, right? 

Further, in between these two extremes are a multitude of people who can give something to do their part the make a difference. As they say, "Every little but helps".  

So what’s the point?

God has given us all that we need in the world to make sure everyone is cared for. There’s no reason for anyone to ever be homeless or hungry or dying from illnesses that could be treated with proper medical care and medication (three thousand people die daily from dysentery which could be treated with simple over the counter bismuth subsalicylate AKA Pepto-Bismol). People with an abundance should do whatever they can to be good stewards of what God has given them, using their money to His glory but unfortunately, this doesn’t happen because people choose to be godless in the way they live. It’s what prompted Jesus to say this more than 2,000 years ago:

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.’”

“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?’”

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.’”

“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.’”

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help You?’”

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’”

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46

Poverty is real and harmful to twenty percent of the world’s population. It seems bigger than one person when we look at it. But equally real is the truth that the Lord has sent His riches to the earth with the expectation that those who were lavished by His abundant blessings would use them to help their brothers and sisters in need. All that needs to happen is for those who have a lot to actively and willingly seek to help those who have not, just as Jesus not only talks about but did throughout His life on earth.

The solution to the poverty is right in front of us. It’s time to do as our God commands and take care of the poor that He loves so dearly.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.