Again with our life group discussion. It's been a while since I've allowed God to push me in my thinking of how he wants us to live. In part, I'm thankful for this group of people who are willing to share honestly and challenge each other.
Reading through our current study, Radical, our topic of discussion was about reevaluating our possessions and wealth and being more generous toward the poor. God makes it VERY clear that we are to take care of the poor, orphans, and widows. It shows up several times in scripture. Naturally, the discussion centered around money. Jesus talked a lot about money and so that tells me it it's an important topic. God blesses some people with lots of money and expects all of us to manage what we have in a way that honors him.
One point that seemed to spark the most discussion was we need to have money to be able to serve the poor so we should manage our finances in such a way. I get that. As I read through the chapter I kept thinking is it wrong to manage our finances so when disaster strikes we have nothing to live on? Surely God wants us to have a savings. My only problem is nowhere in the bible does it say to save up our money. It reminds me of the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-28). Perhaps this was not the point of that parable but isn't it the same idea? God blesses us with stuff and by stuff I mean material and monetary possessions and out of fear of an emergency we run and hide our money. Just like the third man in the parable ran and hid his talents doing absolutely nothing with them.
I began to think after our discussion more about this. I really felt like I was wrestling with this idea of saving money in order to give to the poor. Here are a few thoughts the Spirit seemed to throw around in my head. Sometimes money is all that is needed in a situation but most of the time it's only relief. By relief I mean immediate, short-term help. By giving someone money for groceries I have met a long-term need with a short-term answer because once they run out of groceries they will need more and where will they get that money? Getting a car for someone is a great way to serve them and no doubt God has called people to do that, but again, what happens when that car needs repairs? Will this person be able to afford gas or insurance? Perhaps God will call you to support them in that way forever, although from what I've seen God do I think he'd be asking us to do much more than just give them grocery money. I also want to clarify we should not allow the details of the situation and long-term care scare us to the point of not giving. Just because we don't know how the person is going to pay for their next set of groceries doesn't mean we should not give. I think we need to be looking into the deeper issues though then just handing out money.
So how do we meet those long-term needs? It's like the old saying, "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he'll eat for a life time." I know some people can't physically work so helping them learn a new trade in order to get a better job may not be the solution, but connecting them with resources that are better off meeting a long-term need like groceries might be better. Perhaps it has nothing to do with them being able to get a job but it has everything to do with them keeping themselves healthy. Just because we live in America doesn't mean Americans know how to live a healthy lifestyle. Being healthy could be someones answer to staying out of poverty. Simply knowing the language could help a poor person, whether it's learning to read and write or to speak the language. Knowing how to have functioning, healthy relationships. Developing a healthy spiritual and emotional life could prevent poverty. It's a holistic approach.
As Americans we often equate poverty with lack of money and on the surface, yes I would agree, but there is so much more to it than just money. And if as Christians, we stop serving the poor because we feel like we don't have enough money I wonder, number one, are we trusting God enough to lead us in to a situation where our total dependence is on him to provide what we AND the other person needs? And number two, what other resources do we have to support the holistic healing of this persons life to bring them out of poverty? Money has it's role in helping the poor but I certainly don't think it's the end-all solution.
What do you think? Do we have to have money to serve the poor? Is it irresponsible to serve those in need when we ourselves are barely scraping by financially?
2 comments:
You are on a rocky road for many people. The feeding ministry was operated on a shoe string budget yet we never ran out of food. On occasion, I gave a man an extra vehicle that I wasn't using. I met him 2 years later and he was still using that truck to keep a job. It seems to me that people don't want our money so much as they want our relationship. And relationship leads to a better understanding of their needs which leads to a better solution to help them. I could for hours on this subject.
Ken, I was wondering when I'd hear from you. :) We miss you guys, hope you are doing well. I'd agree with you, our American attitude is like that of a bull in a china shop. We assess situations in about 5 minutes and then just bulldoze our way through someone's life giving them what we think they need. It's all about time and that is probably the hardest thing for us to sacrifice.
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