God loves the poor!
We followers of Christ don't just operate in churches and neighborhoods, we're teachers, bankers, engineers, business owners, government officials, and more. I love it when God addresses these roles in showing us His will for our lives. Reading here from Lev. 25:35 in The Message, God has a lot to say about our responsibility to the indigent and poor from a business perspective. I know old testament writings are generally meant to be taken figuratively, still, we see that the heart of God is for us whose needs are met to help those in need by not, "gouging him with interest charges", "taking advantage of his plight... giving him food for profit", or "making him work as a slave". The Bible says to treat the poor among you as a guest. I have questioned the validity of this perspective regarding those who are fully capable of providing for themselves but choose not to do so. The problem? How do we know the emotional and intellectual capacity of someone we barely know? There are many different reasons a poor man can not regularly work. Even the poor in sin are not absolved of our help. Romans 2:4 says it is "the goodness of God that leads us to repentance." So too, can the goodness of God working through us lead others to repentance. If we want God's heart in the matter, we will choose to care more about ending the poor man's suffering & helping restore his own calling than getting him to payoff his debt to society. Interestingly, there are many scriptures that address God's will for how we are to care for ourselves, our family, and others. If you've never done a bible search on the term "poor", try it.... there are so many powerful and encouraging scriptures about why, how, when and where to help the poor among us. Jon and I are determined to build our family values on God's word, and not political rhetoric, water cooler (popular opinions), or talk-show host advice. This is harder than most of us realize!
