do something.

I went to a seminar this week at my church about serving the poor within our community. The speaker said that those considered to be living in poverty in America are still among the top 30% of wealthiest people in the world.  Poverty in America is not like poverty in the rest of the world.  As I left, my mind was reeling with questions.  Why do we help the poor?  When have I given enough and when do I need to give more?  Shouldn’t we be focusing our efforts on people in poverty in third world countries rather than those in poverty here?  Is there a hierarchy of those we should help first?  What is the goal for helping those in need?

I’ve been praying about these questions, and asking people around me their thoughts.  I don’t have all the answers, but I have come to a few conclusions. 

We help the poor because that’s what Jesus did.  God tells us to love those around us and help our brothers in need.  We aren’t loving people if we see their need and don’t help.  This is an uneasy thought for most of us who live comfortable lives and see great need in the world.  I don’t even like typing the words.  I say that I want to obey God and that I love those around me, but what in my life speaks to this?  The proof is in the pudding, and I don’t feel like my pudding looks like my words.   I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I read the Bible, I sometimes wonder how we got from there to here.   It feels like we’ve been tricked.  If you’re waiting for me to offer some great solution about why we should rest easy, and feel good about why we live the way we do, I don’t have one.  I think we’re wrong.  I think we need to change.

We need to help people around the world in need, but I also think we need to love the poor in our city.  Not only that, but we need to love our next door neighbor.  And the person sitting in the cube next to us.  Jesus didn’t pick and choose.  Jesus didn’t rank people according to need.  He loved and gave to all.  Whatever need he saw, he gave all he had to help.

Finally, the ultimate goal of helping those in need is to point them to Jesus.  Our goal is not for everyone to become part of the top 30%.  Jesus never tried to make lots of money and accumulate more things, and I don’t think that should be our desire for everyone else.  I think this is the biggest misconception we have bought into when helping the poor.  We tend to think if the people in poverty had material possessions, then our job would be done.  We should be trying to tell them about Jesus, not make them like us.  I don’t think God wants more of us.  He wants more of Him.

There’s always going to be poverty and need.  We’re not going to solve that global problem.  We live in a broken world.  But that doesn’t mean we throw up our hands and give up.  There are children in this world who die of starvation.  Children who don’t have clean water.  Children who are being sold into slavery.  Children without parents to care for them.  We can’t hear that and not do anything about it.  What if that were your child?  What if that was someone you knew?  You wouldn’t sit around and continue life as usual.  You would do something.

So I think we need to do something.  Plain and simple.  We can’t call ourselves Christians and not help.  We need to open our eyes to the need all around us and start practicing what we preach.