"Jesus does not ask that we care for the less fortunate, He demands it."
-Katie Davis
During my first semester of college, I took a class called "The Bible and Human Rights", and in this class we talked about a wide variety of things, but it was all mostly centered around the idea that God cares for the poor and how much this is mentioned in scripture. For the entire semester of taking this class, I became more aware that God cared for the poor and that being a Christian, I am supposed to care for the poor, but it still wasn't a reality for me; it didn't really hit me and I wasn't fully understanding. It wasn't until the end of the semester that this really began to sink in and transform my mindset. As we were discussing everything that we had learned over the semester, a classmate of mine said something that shook me. She stated, "It is impossible to be a Christian without having concern for the poor. That's what being a Christian is about!" I had never thought of it that way, but come to find out, she was completely right.
Proverbs 29:7 says, "The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern." When I came across this verse is when the reality hit me that I can say that I'm righteous all day long and I can talk about how much I love Jesus all day long, but if I have no concern about bringing justice to the poor, then I am wicked. It was a hard reality for me to accept, because I've always had the image that a wicked person was someone who was bad or evil, and I just did not fit that category. But there it is, plain as day, that if I, a proclaimed Christian, have no such concern for the justice of the poor, then I am wicked.
So why should we care about the poor? Why does it matter or not if we care about the poor? Why is caring for the poor such a big deal for Christians? Well, to make it simple, because God cares about the poor. "He cares, so I must care." Since God cares about the poor, and we are made in His image and have devoted our lives to Him, then we have no option but to care about the poor as well.
Well, another question you might be wondering is why does God care about the poor? This can be explained through Jesus. During the time that Jesus was on earth, He was not a master, but He chose to become a servant. While He could have chosen any position of royalty that He wanted, He chose to let go of all that He had in order to serve others. "He [God] cares [about the poor] because Jesus relates to the poor. He takes it both seriously and personally how we treat the suffering around us. God insists that if we do not imitate His concern for the poor, we are not really His people– no matter how frequent our worship or how orthodox our creeds."
"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?' The King will reply, 'Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.'" -Matthew 25:34-40
This passage is so clear in showing us just how important it is that we care for those who are in need, whether it's the poor, the sick, the captive, etc. We see here that when we care for those who need it, we are not only caring for them, but we are caring for Christ. "Christ represents Himself to us in a special way in the hungry, the naked, the sick and the prisoner. He is among us in the outcasts and the oppressed of our age. Their cry for justice is Christ's cry for justice."
The next time you pass by a homeless person on the side of the road, or you come across something that reminds you about all of the people around the world who are trapped in poverty, don't close your heart towards them. I know how easy it is to just ignore them because it's what we've been used to doing all of our lives, but please don't. When you see them, don't just look at them as just another person who needs help because they are so much more than that. Christ died for them the same way that He died for you; out of love. They aren't just someone who needs things materially, but they are someone who needs care, love, and compassion. They need someone who is willing to be the hands and feet of Christ and show them this beautiful love. "Unless we are willing to physically do something and act, there will be many in our spheres of influences who will perhaps never truly experience the love of Christ."
Coming to this realization about how we are to have compassion toward and care for those in need has really challenged me as a Christian. It has caused me to see what our role is when it comes to the poor, and that isn't just to sit back and let it continue on like we have been doing, but it is to get up and do something about it. I know poverty isn't going to end overnight, I know that. But if every person who claims to be a Christian actually lived like Christ requires us to when it comes to the poor, then think about how much that would change! If we let go of our selfish nature, and truly came to know God by defending the cause of the poor and needy (Jeremiah 22:16), then we will see a change. Like Matthew West says in his song "Do Something", we're never going to change the world by standing still; it's time for us to do something.
"Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human."
-Henry Nouwen
-Henry Nouwen
God Bless! ♡