Loving the Poor - Part 2

So as not to leave anyone hanging on the whole "loving the poor" thing, I'll list the verses that RB talked about concerning people who do love the poor. 

**Luke 12:33 - Sell your possessions and give to the poor.  Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in Heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. [Jesus]

**James 2:5 - Listen, my dear brothers:  Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

**Isaiah 58 - [This is much too long to type here, but it is one of the most amazing blessing chapters on loving the poor.  And it has proven true in our own lives - we have seen healing that we never thought possible!]

**Deuteronomy 15:7, 10-11 - If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.  Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs....Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.  There will always be poor people in the land.  Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.  [Interesting to note here that in the American church, a common reason proposed for going ahead and not dealing with the poor is this verse (which Jesus also quoted):  "the poor will always be with you".  We've actually heard that before as a reason to not engage the situation because we can't fix it anyway.]

**After he talked about this, he also went through examples of people who loved the poor throughout the New Testament.  Included Jesus, Paul, Peter and the apostles, Zaccheus, the church in Acts (I didn't take notes on all the scripture references for these, but there's no doubt it was pretty essential.  Giving half of his possessions to the poor was Zaccheus' first proof that he had been saved when people questioned Jesus eating with a "sinner").

There are many more verses concerning the poor, which would make one think that maybe it REALLY  matters to God.  He hates injustice.  My approach most of my life has been to think about it for a minute and then to decide to ignore it because it's overwhelming and what could I do anyway?  John Piper points out that you can ALWAYS pray (like when you're watching the news, etc.).  And Randy said the other night that the world is different than it used to be.  It literally takes 5 minutes to send money anywhere in the world.  And our seemingly little contribution can change lives.  To give a little perspective, the average person in Uganda makes around $350 a YEAR!!  Our wealth goes a long way in most places in the world.  

The thing that overwhelms me now is my lack of compassion, even after having my eyes opened quite a bit.  I weep now over things I didn't used to cry about and I have faith that God is slowly giving us His heart for people, but the truth is that when a kid shows up at my door and just wants to hang out or whatever, most of the time I wish he would go away and let me get back to my own "plan".  It's still really hard to engage.  When Jesus said that the entire law could be summed up in this "Love God and love other people", it sounded really simple, but it's EXTREMELY hard (and not just with the poor - with everyone!  :))  People just need to be loved.  No one wants to be a "project" or given handouts, really.  They just want someone to notice them and look in their eyes and love them.  I would honestly rather not have to do that on most days.  Without Christ, I'm hopelessly selfish.  I have been confronted with this over and over and over again in the past several years (esp. having so many children)!  But the beauty in this is that it MAKES you have to depend on Him or give up!  Life by the Spirit/abiding in Jesus  is the only hope.  My flesh produces absolutely pitiful results.  Thank you, Jesus, for Your life and Your grace!