Reading through my Google-alerts this morning and I came upon this wonderful item from Dr. Billy Graham as written in yesterday’s (Feb. 29, 08) Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper. One particular paragraph ( highlighted below) truly sums up why Christians need to be on poverty’s frontline.
DEAR DR. GRAHAM: I know the Bible says we ought to help the poor, and I guess I agree with that, but can’t governments do this better than churches? It’ll take a lot of money to fight poverty in places such as Africa, for example, and churches simply don’t have that kind of money. — P. R.
DEAR P. R.: We sometimes forget that Jesus Himself was very poor, and so were His disciples. On one occasion, He said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Luke 9:58).
After all, He could have chosen to come into this world as a rich man — for He was God, and the whole world belonged to Him. But He didn’t, and one reason was because He wanted to show His compassion for the whole human race, rich and poor alike. And if we are His followers we should have that same kind of compassion. Centuries before Christ was born, God commanded His people “to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land” (Deuteronomy 15:11).
I’m thankful for the work governments and others are doing to fight poverty and disease in many parts of the world; the task is too great for any one agency. But Christians should be in the forefront — and one reason is because they come with compassion, and with the good news of Christ’s power to change lives.
Pray for Christian groups that seek to bring Christ’s love and mercy to those who hurt. (My son Franklin’s organization, Samaritan’s Purse, is one of them.) And be generous in your giving. Above all, ask God to help you see the world the way He sees it, with all of its misery and despair — but also with hope in Christ.
I too applaud the efforts of our government to help in crisis situations, but without introducing folks to the saving power of Jesus Christ we risk merely making their lives more comfortable before they walk through the gates of hell.
Why give partially when we can give fully.
He Dwells -- The B'log in My Eye 
Thank you for the grate work you are doing today in this world,and thank you for loving our God.Am paul kitobo and am runing a ministry for children and widows,is it possible for you all as brethrens to stand and pray with us.may the almighty God bless you all.
LikeLike
You have said so much Matt that I can agree with, but there are a couple things I would like to clarify. I suppose the first is the notion that we (Christians) should respond to the physically and spiritually poor in our own communities, and to that I could not agree more. However I always like to bring the discussion back to the Bible and in this case the book of Acts specifically. Acts 1:8 (and I shall paraphrase) says that ‘we will be witnesses for Jesus in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’
The application for us in the 21st century is that we should do the same in our ‘home towns, with our friendly neighbors, our not-so-friendly neighbors, and to the ends of the earth.’ So while it is true we begin in the home (so to speak), the sharing of God’s love goes outwardly from there and in a balanced manner, with the Holy Spirit being our guide.
Now as for charities, I think the ‘word’ is an unfortunate term, when in reality what they really are (at least the Christian ones) are missionaries…And the Bible is very clear that we should be supporting our missionaries.
Now having said that, I think it is wonderful that you are opening up your home and providing beds and food to the homeless and bringing them to church–what a fine example for the rest of us! But when we reach out into the other areas Jesus wants us to traverse as well, that practice suddenly loses its practicality. Enter the charity, which we already determined is really the churchin action., through its missionaries, By supporting them (and I am really referring to the ‘ends of the earth’ doctrine now), we are fulfilling Christ’s directive without having to reinvent the wheel.
Now would that prevent a Christian from traveling overseas to do the Lord’s work directly? Of course not…that would be a wonderful gesture and a tremendous leap of faith for that believer, however, they are not off the hook as it pertains to Acts 1:8. Essentially what they have done has made their ‘ends of the earth’ their Jerusalem, and the former Jerusalem has become their new ends of the earth.
LikeLike
Why do people think that when you help the needy for some reason you don’t tell them about Jesus?????
We don’t need to use charities there are thousands of orphans and homeless man and women on the streets of our cities. Jesus never said anything about charities, thats like paying someone to go to work for you, we still need to work. What better way of evangelising someone then giving them a bed and food and then inviting them to church with you on sunday, when you tell them it was actually the holy spirit that drove them to help them imagine that witness would be of the grace of God. Trust me this works.
This would all come naturally if we really loved our neigbour as ourself. You say its dangerouse well no one said it was going to be safe. We have been told to carry our own cross!!!
LikeLike
We can proclaim the good news to people, and teach them to love their neigbour as themself, but if we do not love our neigbour as ourself then how can we expect them to. We can Help the poor and give genourously but it must be a witness of the grace of God. Unless these two go hand in hand then they are both vain offerings
LikeLike
That last statement is so powerful and so true.
LikeLike
Well, I did enjoy it Jeannie, but I fear I might have lost something in the translation. Was there something in particular you wanted to relate, or was it just the joy of communing with our Lord?
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=EbvnNRmfoAQ
LikeLike
hope you enjoy this.
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=EbvnNRmfoAQ
LikeLike
“but without introducing folks to the saving power of Jesus Christ we risk merely making their lives more comfortable before they walk through the gates of hell.”
That is so much like a statement my husband and I heard at a medical convention last summer: Are you a good doctor if your patient goes to hell pneumonia-free?
Keep writing!!
LikeLike