It seems as if the poor are everywhere these days. There are more homeless than ever. Entire towns of homeless exist in many places in America today. This may only get worse as time goes on. Maybe some of you reading this now, may one day be among them.
Generous To All
We know one of our responsibilities as Christians is to serve the poor. What does God promise us if we do this?
"Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38
and
"He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, And He will pay back what he has given." Proverbs 19:17
The Lord promises to the cheerful giver a return in kind for what he gives. If we give meagerly, or not at all, this will be measured back to us. If we give generously, that too will be measured back.
Who Do We Give To?
Who do we give to? Jesus tells us to give to those who can't repay (Luke 14: 13-14) and to everyone who asks (Luke 6: 30) . Jesus doesn't tell us to determine someone's worth before we give. He doesn't tell us to analyze their circumstances to see if we feel they are truly needy. He simply tells us to give!
Don't Turn Your Back On The Poor
We are warned several times in the Bible not to turn our backs to the poor. In Proverbs 21:13, we are told that our cries won't be heard if we ignore the needs of the poor. It is quite frightening to think that if I ignore the poor, that God will ignore me!
We can't despise our neighbor, whether they are or poor or not. As Christ has given us mercy, so should we give mercy to the poor. Giving mercy brings happiness. Not sharing God's mercy is a sin. Proverbs 14:21 tells us we are happy when we have mercy on the poor.
Not only are we to give to the poor but we are to speak up for them. Many poor people feel they have no voice and, in our society, sadly that is too true. If we have a voice, we are to use it for them. Proverbs 31: 8-9 reminds us to "plead the cause of the poor and needy."
And how should we treat those who once had something, but now have nothing? How are we to treat those who haven't always been poor, but due to circumstances out of their control, now are? Leviticus 25:35 says that we should help them. In Deuteronomy 15: 7-8, we are told not to harden our hearts toward the poor, but to give generously and willingly and to take care of their needs. We are to lend him "whatever he needs" even to the point that we allow him to live with us!
There Will Always Be Poor
Our Lord told us the poor would be with us always. We can't rid the world of poverty. It is impossible. However, we are still called in Deuteronomy 15:11, to be willingly and lovingly generous. I have actually heard Christians say, "Why should I give to the poor since they will always be here?" The Lord acknowledges that there will always be poor people, but His response is that we should still open our hand wide to our brother.
Because We Served The Least
In Matthew 25, our Lord says that He will judge between the sheep and the goats. In verses 34-36, He tells the sheep that because they fed Him, gave Him drink, took Him into their home, clothed Him, visited Him when He was sick and even in prison came to visit Him they would inherit the kingdom.
When the sheep question the Father over when they did these things, He tells them that when they did it for the least of people, they did it for Him. They gave Him food, water, and clothes. They visited Him when He was sick or in prison. They took Jesus into their home when they didn't know Him. This is how important serving the poor is to the Lord.
Show Grace And Mercy
Helping others, serving others is not something we do out of our riches. It is something we do out of whatever God has blessed us with, because everything we have is because of Him. He even tells us that we should work so that we can give to others (Ephesians 4:28). He expects us to show his grace and mercy to the world through our generosity to those who could never repay us. In the same way that we cannot repay the grace we have been given by God.
Generosity Is A Sign
On that day of judgment, when His sheep are called out, we pray that we would be among those who sought to care for those too weak, too sick, too poor to care for themselves. Our generosity should be one of the greatest signs that we are who we say we are, followers of Christ.
Please pray this prayer with me:
Lord God,
You came to give honor to the least, those forgotten, overlooked and misjudged.
You came to give first place to the last, those left behind, misunderstood and undervalued. You came to give a warm welcome to the lost, those who are orphaned, abandoned and destitute.
Help us to be your ears to listen to their cries.
Help us to be your voice speaking out love and acceptance.
Help us to be your feet walking beside those in need.
Help us to be your hands to clothe, feed and shelter them. You came for the least, the lost and last of this world.
Lord, hear our prayer. Amen.
Please enjoy this beautiful hymn, Whatsover You Do
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