2 The rich and the poor have this in common, The Lord is the maker of them all.
Then, verse 4 emphasizes the true riches that all can enjoy through a knowledge of the Lord:
4 By humility and the fear of the Lord Are riches and honor and life.
4 By humility and the fear of the Lord Are riches and honor and life.
Material possessions do not determine our worth before God. Every person, no matter what situation he or she is born into, has unique potential, which is realized through surrendering to Christ in salvation and fulfilling the calling He has placed on their lives. We are not called to look down upon those who are in poverty - of resources or of spirit; rather, we are called to look upon them with compassion and a sense of service. Deep inside, we are all sinners who need a Savior.
With an attitude of sacrifice and a sense of compassion, we are called to live out our faith and be especially sensitive to those who are in need. 1st John 3 says:
17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
It had the word "evangelical" in its name, but the recent Catholic-Evangelical Leadership Summit on Overcoming Poverty at Georgetown University seems to have hardly been a strategy session to talk about Biblically-based solutions to helping the poor. In fact, in reading the reviews, it seems that evangelicals may have been one of the chief targets of the rhetoric. President Obama shared the stage with this guy, Robert Putnam, who is quoted as saying, in a Religion News Service article:
First of all, look at the money spent on the so-called "social issues." The writers took the total budgets of major conservative, pro-family organizations, then added in the roughly 40 state Family Policy Councils. They said, "In aggregate, then, the national 'organized religious' groups indicted by Mr. Putnam account for something less than $170 million in total revenue. If you want to be generous, the national/state combo is about $270 million."
Contrast that with the money spent by evangelical and Catholic groups to help the poor. They cite the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, which "...represents groups that provide food, medical care, education, adoption services, orphan care, post-prison assistance, substance abuse help and other critical services at home and abroad. In aggregate, the more than 600 evangelical ministries represented in the ECFA provide more than $9.2 billion in relief assistance."
The RNS article also refers to The Economist magazine’s assessment of the Catholic Church’s estimated $170 billion total U.S. income, which found that about 57 percent (roughly $97 billion) goes to “health-care networks, followed by 28 percent on colleges, with parish and diocesan day-to-day operations accounting for just 6 percent, with the remaining $4.6 billion going to 'national charitable activities.'”
And, as the writers point out, "...That’s not even considering the countless hours that Christian churches and ministries devote to helping the poor and the needy, nor the private actions of individual Christians."
But are we doing enough - absolutely not! On either front, if you want to buy in to the false narrative that social issues and social consciousness should be viewed as separate entities (which I do not believe that they are), much more can be done to address the needs in our communities on both fronts. Our devotion to the sanctity of life and sanctity of marriage is based on the foundation of the Scriptures, and as we walk in the compassion of Christ, we recognize that we are called to live and teach principles that are consistent with His truth. And, that relates to how we view and respond to the poor. As believers in the sanctity of life, we believe every life has value; as we embrace God's view for sexuality, we recognize that can contribute to stable families.
Those who are in poverty are in that situation for a number of reasons. And, we should be charitable to those who are in need. But, we don't leave them in a situation of dependency. I am thankful for the ministries that reach out to those who are without a home, without a job, without a stable family structure or wholesome environment - and there is no shortage of opportunity to do ministry. We can develop a concern for "the least of these," to whom Jesus referred, and ask Him how we can be involved in their lives. And, in our charity, we communicate to the world around us that we belong to Jesus.
+++++
With an attitude of sacrifice and a sense of compassion, we are called to live out our faith and be especially sensitive to those who are in need. 1st John 3 says:
17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
It had the word "evangelical" in its name, but the recent Catholic-Evangelical Leadership Summit on Overcoming Poverty at Georgetown University seems to have hardly been a strategy session to talk about Biblically-based solutions to helping the poor. In fact, in reading the reviews, it seems that evangelicals may have been one of the chief targets of the rhetoric. President Obama shared the stage with this guy, Robert Putnam, who is quoted as saying, in a Religion News Service article:
“The obvious fact is that over the last 30 years, most organized religion has focused on issues regarding sexual morality, such as abortion, gay marriage, all of those. I’m not saying if that’s good or bad, but that’s what they’ve been using all their resources for. This is the most obvious point in the world. It’s been entirely focused on issues of homosexuality and contraception and not at all focused on issues of poverty.”That is from a Washington Post article leading up to this "summit," an event at which the President himself echoed the same attitude. A Family Research Council piece charges that the President "...scolded the church for being too preoccupied with the culture war to help the needy." The piece quotes Mr. Obama:
"There is great caring and great concern, but when it comes to what are you really going to the mat for, what's the defining issue, when you're talking in your congregations, what's the thing that is really going to capture the essence of who we are as Christians, or as Catholics, or what have you, that this is oftentimes viewed as a 'nice to have' relative to an issue like abortion."So, helping the poor is not a priority for Christians? Really? FRC's Rob Schwarzwalder and Pat Fagan, the day of the summit, took Putnam's charge and used the real numbers to refute it.
First of all, look at the money spent on the so-called "social issues." The writers took the total budgets of major conservative, pro-family organizations, then added in the roughly 40 state Family Policy Councils. They said, "In aggregate, then, the national 'organized religious' groups indicted by Mr. Putnam account for something less than $170 million in total revenue. If you want to be generous, the national/state combo is about $270 million."
Contrast that with the money spent by evangelical and Catholic groups to help the poor. They cite the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, which "...represents groups that provide food, medical care, education, adoption services, orphan care, post-prison assistance, substance abuse help and other critical services at home and abroad. In aggregate, the more than 600 evangelical ministries represented in the ECFA provide more than $9.2 billion in relief assistance."
The RNS article also refers to The Economist magazine’s assessment of the Catholic Church’s estimated $170 billion total U.S. income, which found that about 57 percent (roughly $97 billion) goes to “health-care networks, followed by 28 percent on colleges, with parish and diocesan day-to-day operations accounting for just 6 percent, with the remaining $4.6 billion going to 'national charitable activities.'”
And, as the writers point out, "...That’s not even considering the countless hours that Christian churches and ministries devote to helping the poor and the needy, nor the private actions of individual Christians."
But are we doing enough - absolutely not! On either front, if you want to buy in to the false narrative that social issues and social consciousness should be viewed as separate entities (which I do not believe that they are), much more can be done to address the needs in our communities on both fronts. Our devotion to the sanctity of life and sanctity of marriage is based on the foundation of the Scriptures, and as we walk in the compassion of Christ, we recognize that we are called to live and teach principles that are consistent with His truth. And, that relates to how we view and respond to the poor. As believers in the sanctity of life, we believe every life has value; as we embrace God's view for sexuality, we recognize that can contribute to stable families.
Those who are in poverty are in that situation for a number of reasons. And, we should be charitable to those who are in need. But, we don't leave them in a situation of dependency. I am thankful for the ministries that reach out to those who are without a home, without a job, without a stable family structure or wholesome environment - and there is no shortage of opportunity to do ministry. We can develop a concern for "the least of these," to whom Jesus referred, and ask Him how we can be involved in their lives. And, in our charity, we communicate to the world around us that we belong to Jesus.
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