Remember The Poor

"I have been poor and I have been rich, but I have always found someone poorer than I"
Many years ago, when I was a young man in college, I went with our Baptist Student Union on a missionary trip to Matamoros, Mexico. We stayed in a large open area and slept on cots, took cold showers at a church in Brownsville, Texas. Each morning a bus load of us would drive to an area where we were constructing an orphanage for some children there. This became my first exposure to poor of the world outside my own.
We traveled into the poorest parts of Matamoros and it was then and there I realized how rich I was.
When I was a college student, my wife worked in the day as a maid, I worked at the same place in the evening doing laundry. There were many times in those days, that after paying our rent for an efficiency apartment we would barely have $5.00 - $10.00 left to eat on, but we had friends.
Those friends though not Christians were often our lifeline. They would feed us and buy us things now and then. They were great friends. The one thing that set them apart is they understood poverty. Most people have no clue unless they have been there. One has to experience poverty or Christ has to show them the need to have a desire to help. It takes compassion to help the poor, not judgement.
I remember well the impression it made in my mind when I saw how the people in Mexico lived. Many of the families lived on the streets in large cardboard boxes cut and shaped to form a small shelter. Often the only heat they had was a small coffee can with something burning in it. I came face to face with real poverty.
All the time thinking I was poor previous to that trip there. I found that in truth I was rich. I had a comfortable but small dwelling place to live in, some food, and I had a heater to warm me. I have since that day been both rich and poor. I have had lots of money, I didn't want and very little that I needed more of it.
These days, I am kind of back in the situation past, poor but never so poor to forget that there are plenty of others in this world that live in true poverty.
To help remind me as a Christian one of the most important truths taught in scripture, I often refer myself to some verses in the Bible. These are verses that all of us as Christians need to hold fast to.
We as a nation and a people have been so mesmerized by our wealth and our materialism we forget. Forgetting the poor is the very worst thing we can do.

All the money taken in and given to organizations, if only a small portion of it is not going to help the poor, then it useless money. It can be your church, your volunteer organization or whatever - if the largest amount is going to the organization itself and not flowing out to those in need, the purpose of your organization is already defeated. There are church denominations, that own billions of dollars in property, two of which I can name are the Baptist and Catholics. Not to pick on just these two but they own the largest amount worldwide. What would all that money have done, if instead of more buildings and property being purchased it would have been given to feed and clothe the poor? It would have helped change the world. So the next time you see someone poorer than yourself, remember these verses.
Remember what Jesus said, what does it profit you to hear the word but not to do the word?

Remember The Poor

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." -Matthew 6:24

"He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished." -Proverbs 17:5

"If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered."-Proverbs 21:13

"He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich--both come to poverty." -Proverbs 22:16

"Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'"
-Matthew 19:21

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'"
-Matthew 19:23-24

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least among you, you did not do for me.'"
-Matthew 25:41-45

"He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses." -Proverbs 28:27

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."
-Proverbs 31:8-9

"People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." -1 Timothy 6:9-10

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life." -1 Timothy 6:17-19

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." -Ezekiel 16:49

"Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death."
-Proverbs 11:4

"A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold." -Proverbs 22:1

"Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all."
-Proverbs 22:2

"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor."
-Proverbs 22:9

"Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them."
-Proverbs 22:22-23

"Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle." -Proverbs 23:4-5

"Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a rich man whose ways are perverse."
-Proverbs 28:6

"A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished." -Proverbs 28:20

"The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern."
-Proverbs 29:7

"Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless." -Ecclesiastes 5:10

"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."
-Deuteronomy 15:11

"He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." -Proverbs 14:31

"A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare."
-Proverbs 21:6

"You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge."
-Psalm 14:6

"He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done." -Proverbs 19:17

"A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him." -Proverbs 28:11

"The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall."
-Proverbs 18:11

I thank God for friends and family that have been there to give me a hand when I needed it. Perhaps, you know someone today that you have been overlooking that needs help. Perhaps, there is someone you know who has a need. Perhaps, there is someone you have judged when it wasn't your right to judge but it was your call to help.
I say it again - remember the poor.

Dr. J.