11 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.
—The words of God from Deuteronomy 15:11
In this season leading up to a national election, one of the favorite political ploys is to cast one political party as the champion of the rich and the other political party as the champion of the poor. The truth is that the poor are neither the province of either party. The plight of the poor belongs to the people of God.
In the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post, God gives very clear instructions to His people. He commands them to reach out to their brothers, and to the poor, with an open hand. You see God’s people have a responsibility to care for the poor.
I believe that if the body of Christ, the church, had consistently and persistently followed this command of God, the government would have never had to become involved. Of course that would have ended this completely fake ploy that makes one ideology “Robin Hood” and the other ideology the “Sheriff of Nottingham.”
A lot of people quote the Lord Jesus Christ when He refuted the misplaced anxiety of his disciples over the “wasted” expensive perfume as recorded in Matthew 26:11, Mark 14:7, and John 12:8. Here’s the Mark passage where Jesus says:
7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.
Few people realize that Jesus quotes the command of God at the beginning of this blog post. Nevertheless, Jesus affirms that the poor will always be present. And, He makes it clear they are there to help.
So, what do we do about this? I will have to leave that up to you to respond as God directs you. But please allow me my moment of lamentation that the failure of the church to obey God’s direct command has placed us in an untenable political position. As the late John Kenneth Galbraith once said:
“You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too.”
Will you pray with me?
Thank You, God, for loving us. Thank You for sending Jesus to be our Savior. Thank You for sending us Your Holy Spirit to dwell within us.
Loving Father, we acknowledge Your command to care for the poor with an open hand. Help us to seek out and find practical, effective ways to do this, so we may bring honor, glory, and majesty to Your Precious and Holy Name.
We thank You, Gracious Father, for hearing our prayer in and through the precious Name of Your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
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