More Than Enough
1 John 3:17 Suppose a believer who is rich enough to have all the necessities of life sees a fellow believer who is poor and does not have even basic needs. What if the rich believer does not help the poor one? Then it is clear that God's love is not in that person's heart.
Poverty, today in this world of abundance, is sadly, terribly still a fact of life. Fully one third of the world’s population is starving. And another third is under nourished. That’s two thirds. That’s something like five BILLION people.
They’re not just statistics. They’re real people. They’re mothers, they’re children, they’re families who are starving, five billion times over, every day.
Now that’s a big number. If you were to count to five billion, one second at a time, one, two, three … it would take you almost one hundred and sixty years.
One of the most natural reactions to all of this is during the evening news, when they show starving children in some refugee camp in Africa, is simply to change channels. It’s too confronting. The problem is just too big for you and me to have any sort of meaningful impact on. And then … then eventually, we get over it and the horror of their misery doesn’t even touch our hearts anymore. That’s the really scary thing.
Suppose a believer who is rich enough to have all the necessities of life sees a fellow believer who is poor and does not have even basic needs. What if the rich believer does not help the poor one? Then it is clear that God’s love is not in that person’s heart. (1 John 3:17)
God has an amazing heart for the poor and the destitute. Think about it, who did Jesus hang around with? The plump, wealthy religious powerbrokers in Jerusalem, or the poor and the marginalised on the fringes of society?
Yeah, absolutely, God has an amazing heart for the poor, and anyone – anyone who calls themselves a Christ follower, who doesn’t have that same heart, who isn’t moved to action, is simply kidding themselves. Faith without works is dead.
So, might I enquire of you today, what does your giving portfolio look like? People all seem to have investment portfolios these days, but what about your giving portfolio?
Does it include a good chunk for the poor and needy? And if not – let me ask you – why not?
You and I may not be able to solve the global problem of hunger, but you know something, most of us have the means to solve it for one family. They’re not just statistics. They’re people. People whom God loves.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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