One time, when I was a kid, I was watching a TV show about animals, monkeys in particular. There was footage of monkeys being trapped so they could be sold on the black market for everything from pets to ingredients for some sort of soup.
One of the traps used was a small cage with not just vertical bars, but horizontal bars as well. The square openings the bars made were very small, just big enough for a child’s hand to fit through...or a monkey’s. Inside the cage, in plain sight , was a piece of fruit. The footage showed a curious monkey (no, I don’t think it’s name was George!) who came up to the cage and reached in to get the fruit. The problem was, he couldn’t pull his hand back out while holding the fruit. The monkey’s inability to understand that to let go of the fruit was his means of escape, became his undoing.
Things that allure us, that please us, that spoil us, can indeed, entrap us. When we find that we cannot let go of anything, even something good, then we are truly undone. Jesus says that our lives to do not consist of the things which we possess, He also said that we cannot serve two masters, God and Mammon. Mammon was a pagan god of material wealth...he symbolized what we Christians call “blessings”. He also said that wherever we place importance or priority, that’s where our heart can be found.
Wealth is the easiest to point out because it’s presence is obvious, but it is not bad or evil; the often misquoted Bible verse actually reads, “the LOVE of money is the root of all evil”, not money itself. As I have said many times before, money is merely a tool with which we can accomplish a task, much like a hammer. But when a hammer is misused, like as a weapon, then bad things happen for which the hammer cannot be blamed...rather the user of the hammer is to blame.
When we become followers of Jesus we are shown by His words and the words of His followers, that we are to take care of those less fortunate than ourselves. We are commanded to do so. Jesus even emphasized that we would always have the poor among us. This was His way of saying, “Hey, no matter how good things might seem, there will always be someone who needs a helping hand...no strings attached.”
Jesus spoke more about money and the effect it has, than He did about healing, hell and even heaven, so caring for the helpless, the marginalized, the (as Jesus called them) “least of these”, is a HUGE part of the Gospel message. In fact, Jesus said at the beginning of His ministry that He was here to preach the Good News to the poor. Does that mean the Gospel is not for everyone? Of course not...because we are ALL poor in some way.
Jesus said that the gate we should enter is small and the path is narrow...just wide enough to have to go through in single file - meaning that you cannot bring anyone with you or anything, there’s not enough room. When we follow Him, we can, should and MUST invite others, but our salvation is just that - ours.
So, will we continue to hold on to the fruit and fail to escape the enemy? He may not get us yet; the fruit may even rot in our hand before we find ourselves in captivity.
Or...do we wise up and let it go and escape with our very lives? To then move forward living for Jesus and others is His plan for us anyway, for we are His masterpiece created to perform acts of mercy so that the world will recognize Him in us...and come to Him and be saved.
Think about it.
Showing posts with label wealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wealth. Show all posts
9/30/10
8/9/10
Caring for the Poor the Jesus Way
It dawned on me this morning (no pun intended) that there is a major disconnect between the Church here in America and the way Jesus said to care for the poor and marginalized...and not the way some of you “compassionate” or “liberal” Christians may think. But hold on, you “conservative” Christians, this blog is for you too.
I am reading a book right now called, RADICAL by David Platt. David is a pastor of a pretty darn big church in Alabama, but has come to the conclusion that Christianity, specifically here in the West, really is not living and breathing the Gospel the way Jesus presented it. His point: caring for the poor EVERYWHERE is part and parcel of the Gospel message. Paul told Timothy that caring for the fatherless and the widow was “undefiled religion”, and in Paul’s day, being fatherless or a widow was synonymous with being poor. We don’t have to go too deep into the 3 ½ year ministry of Jesus to see that He had a special affinity for the poor and, if we look at the Older Testament, we find that God condemned Israel, and more specifically the priesthood, for neglecting the poor. He even said that forgetting the poor in our midst was a blight on an entire nation.
There is a growing number of Christians who, with good intentions I’m sure, “lobby” the government to do more for our nation’s poor. They agree with policies that extend welfare benefits to people who could work, but don’t. With that being said, there are those who cannot work or who are part of what we call the “working poor” who need the help and it should be provided...by someone, which leads to my next point.
What is sad about this whole situation is:
1) How the church has allowed the world (read: government) to co-opt it’s responsibility to help those in need, and...
2) It shows how easy it is to side-step our own personal involvement by letting a faceless entity do our job for us.
Now, those of you who are saying, “Yeah, you tell those liberals how it is! Expose them for being the hypocrites they really are!” Well, you guys who are more conservative, wipe that smug look off of your faces. You guys are guilty of something as bad, if not worse. “What would that be?”, you may ask. Writing checks in order to side-step your personal involvement in making disciples for Jesus. That’s right...both liberal and conservative Christians AVOID really doing what Jesus said to do and that is, make it personal. I can hear the cries of “foul” already - “I’m not called to do this...” or “I don’t feel led to do that...”! We’re all called, period. When your boss tells you to do something, do you cop the plea, “That’s not in my job description!”? With being a follower of Jesus, there is only one job description and it’s found in Matthew 28:18-20.
A friend of mine told me once that he didn’t mind paying higher taxes in order to help those less fortunate than he. My open question to those of you who feel the same way is...If you actually knew someone who was in serious need, would you write them a check for the same amount as your tax liability you have at the end of the year? Chances are, no you wouldn’t. This addresses the material, practical side of the issue.
Then there are those who, like I said, would rather write a check to pay an evangelist or a missionary to “spread the Gospel”, than get down and dirty with the Holy Spirit and people who don’t know Jesus. We’ve become so comfortable in our multi-million dollar buildings (that get used maybe 10 hours a week at best), with millions of dollars worth of cars in the parking lot, that we forget that there are those who don’t have this luxury and walk miles in the dark to meet in the middle of the night on dirt floors to pray with each other so they will be strengthened to tell others about Jesus.
As I write this, I feel that the sword that I am wielding cuts both ways. I, too, have felt the sting of truth in these very words I write. The shame and guilt of NOT opening my mouth to tell of the love of Christ haunts me. I’m not one of those who could write a check to ease my conscience..heck, my family may be foreclosed on any day now, so shelling out cash to ease my guilt is not a problem I have. As with everything of a spiritual nature, it comes down to the heart. Is your heart in your wallet, or in your chest where God put it? Is you heart sitting in government coffers, or is it willing to seek out those in need and do it yourself?
When Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, at the end He asked who of the 3 men who approached the injured man proved to be his neighbor. The people answered
the one who showed him mercy. Jesus response? Go...and do likewise.
Think about it.
I am reading a book right now called, RADICAL by David Platt. David is a pastor of a pretty darn big church in Alabama, but has come to the conclusion that Christianity, specifically here in the West, really is not living and breathing the Gospel the way Jesus presented it. His point: caring for the poor EVERYWHERE is part and parcel of the Gospel message. Paul told Timothy that caring for the fatherless and the widow was “undefiled religion”, and in Paul’s day, being fatherless or a widow was synonymous with being poor. We don’t have to go too deep into the 3 ½ year ministry of Jesus to see that He had a special affinity for the poor and, if we look at the Older Testament, we find that God condemned Israel, and more specifically the priesthood, for neglecting the poor. He even said that forgetting the poor in our midst was a blight on an entire nation.
There is a growing number of Christians who, with good intentions I’m sure, “lobby” the government to do more for our nation’s poor. They agree with policies that extend welfare benefits to people who could work, but don’t. With that being said, there are those who cannot work or who are part of what we call the “working poor” who need the help and it should be provided...by someone, which leads to my next point.
What is sad about this whole situation is:
1) How the church has allowed the world (read: government) to co-opt it’s responsibility to help those in need, and...
2) It shows how easy it is to side-step our own personal involvement by letting a faceless entity do our job for us.
Now, those of you who are saying, “Yeah, you tell those liberals how it is! Expose them for being the hypocrites they really are!” Well, you guys who are more conservative, wipe that smug look off of your faces. You guys are guilty of something as bad, if not worse. “What would that be?”, you may ask. Writing checks in order to side-step your personal involvement in making disciples for Jesus. That’s right...both liberal and conservative Christians AVOID really doing what Jesus said to do and that is, make it personal. I can hear the cries of “foul” already - “I’m not called to do this...” or “I don’t feel led to do that...”! We’re all called, period. When your boss tells you to do something, do you cop the plea, “That’s not in my job description!”? With being a follower of Jesus, there is only one job description and it’s found in Matthew 28:18-20.
A friend of mine told me once that he didn’t mind paying higher taxes in order to help those less fortunate than he. My open question to those of you who feel the same way is...If you actually knew someone who was in serious need, would you write them a check for the same amount as your tax liability you have at the end of the year? Chances are, no you wouldn’t. This addresses the material, practical side of the issue.
Then there are those who, like I said, would rather write a check to pay an evangelist or a missionary to “spread the Gospel”, than get down and dirty with the Holy Spirit and people who don’t know Jesus. We’ve become so comfortable in our multi-million dollar buildings (that get used maybe 10 hours a week at best), with millions of dollars worth of cars in the parking lot, that we forget that there are those who don’t have this luxury and walk miles in the dark to meet in the middle of the night on dirt floors to pray with each other so they will be strengthened to tell others about Jesus.
As I write this, I feel that the sword that I am wielding cuts both ways. I, too, have felt the sting of truth in these very words I write. The shame and guilt of NOT opening my mouth to tell of the love of Christ haunts me. I’m not one of those who could write a check to ease my conscience..heck, my family may be foreclosed on any day now, so shelling out cash to ease my guilt is not a problem I have. As with everything of a spiritual nature, it comes down to the heart. Is your heart in your wallet, or in your chest where God put it? Is you heart sitting in government coffers, or is it willing to seek out those in need and do it yourself?
When Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, at the end He asked who of the 3 men who approached the injured man proved to be his neighbor. The people answered
the one who showed him mercy. Jesus response? Go...and do likewise.
Think about it.
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