Remember the Poor-1

The poor are a worldwide problem, or so it would seem. There have always been poor and according to the Bible, there will always be poor among us. But, what are we to do? The Bible is quite clear on this, but false teachers and an abundance of ministries and government agencies have twisted this into a massive scheme to raise money. Since the Bible is our only true source of truth, let us study just what God has told us about the poor.

Mark 14:7 "For you always have the poor with you,

and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me (Jesus).

1 Timothy 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

1 John 3:17 But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

In these three short verses we already see some universal truths in regards to the poor. First, Jesus told us that we will always have the poor with us. After nearly 60 years of the ‘Great Society’ and billions or even trillions of dollars, we have not truly improved the lives of the poor or eradicated the poor. Also, in many ways, the poor are worse now than every due to the immorality and destruction of the family created by this ‘Great Society’! We have generational unemployment, single mothers, absence of fathers in the households, and millions of children without a true home and two parents.

Second, which is related is the role of the family, we have to redefine the family to fit our current predicament. With the disintegration of the family in the U.S., everyone now just turns to the Government to support them, as they don’t really have a family to help them.

Third, as these two points are related, most people ignore the poor around them as it is now the sole problem of the government. Personal, individual, and family responsibility is now simply a lost precept of the distant past.

Just coming up with a definition of the poor, which most would agree to, would be a mammoth undertaking. In the U. S. today, the Department of Census regularly tells us that there are 43-46 million people living in poverty. The poverty level is an income line that is constantly being revised upward in the U.S. The problem in the U.S. is that the real meaning of being poor often is replaced with just being poorer. Being poorer, i.e., having fewer material possessions, than your neighbor doesn’t mean you are poor.

In order to truly treat this sensitive subject with the respect it is due, we will start next week with God’s definition of the poor and His expectations of them.

More next Saturday.