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Five Reasons for Poverty -Part 2

7/26/2020

In the Bible, we find that people were poor for a variety of reasons. The same holds true for us today. In my last blog I noted that sin can cause poverty. Today we are going to look at a couple of additional causes of poverty.

Situational poverty. A million things can fall under this heading: a drunken father or mother, health issues, losing one’s job, a deep recession or economic depression. When I speak of situational poverty, I speak of situations where people are poor for reasons which are beyond their control.

Proverbs 23:21 says “For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty….”

This takes us to the third reason for poverty -- Injustice
The Bible condemns wicked rulers and businessmen who crush the poor and seize what little they have.

Listen to these verses:

Exodus 23:6, “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.”
Proverbs 31:9, “Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
Isaiah 3:13-15, “The Lord takes his place in court; he rises to judge the people. The Lord enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: ‘It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?’”
Amos 2:6-7, “This is what the Lord says: ‘For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.”

Why is God so concerned about this issue? Proverbs 14:31 (New Living Translation) gives us the answer, “Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who help the poor honor him.” When we deny justice to the poor, when we trample on their rights, when we take advantage of them in the courts, then we are actually insulting the very God who made them.

In Matthew 25 Jesus notes, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me.” Jesus is telling us that when we minister to those in need: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the sick, the one in prison, we are really ministering to Him. Notice Jesus doesn't say, "as if you were doing it to me," which would imply a metaphor. No, He says, “You did it for me.”

Someone put it this way, the way that we treat the poor is the way we treat God.

The Redeemed Team

Five Reasons for Poverty - Part 1

7/19/2020

In the Bible, we find that people were poor for a variety of reasons. The same holds true for us today. We will look at one of those reasons today with the additional reasons to follow in my upcoming blogs.

Sin causes poverty. Notice Deuteronomy 15. This is a very strange passage. In fact, it seems to contradict itself. Notice:

First, we are told that the Lord will so richly bless Israel that there will be no poor people in the land; verse 4, “However, there should be no poor among you….”
Then provisions are made for the eventuality that there should be some poor in the land; verse 7, “If there is a poor man among your brothers….”
Finally, we are advised that the poor will always be with us; verse 11, “There will always be poor people in the land.”

Which statement is true? Or if they are all true, how do we explain the seeming contradictions?

If verse 4 is made to stand on its own, then it certainly does look like a flat-out contradiction of verse 11… “There will always be poor people in the land.” But verse 5 begins with the tiny word “if”. If only Israel would “fully obey the LORD” and if they would be “careful to follow all these commands” then “there should be no poor among you….” But if Israel was to refuse to fully obey – if they were to sin, in other words, -- (which they did), then the end result would be, “There will always be poor people in the land.” Here we see poverty as being the result of man’s disobedience to God. God didn’t want it. He provided a way to avoid it. Nonetheless, it happened.

Can you think of some sinful (wrong) activities that might cause a person to end up being poor?

Now I want to make one thing perfectly clear. While I do believe that sin can be the source of poverty, I do not believe that:

It is a sin to be poor,
That poverty is necessarily the result of sin being in one’s life.

Jesus was poor and yet He was without sin.

The Redeemed Team

Just Fifteen Dollars

7/14/2020

Think of a dollar bill. What can you buy with that? Could you live on it? Yet, today, over one billion people on Planet Earth live in absolute poverty, earning less than a dollar a day. Then too, nearly one billion people go hungry and 40,000 children a day die from hunger or hunger-related diseases.

In the United States, one child in six lives in poverty, one child in five is born poor, one in three will be poor at some point in their childhood.
One poor family in seven lives in housing which is severely physically inadequate, such as having no hot water, no electricity, no toilet, no bathtub or shower.
Poverty rates among children in single-mother families are particularly striking:

55 percent of such children under six lived in poverty according to the last statistics that I could find. The figures were even higher for black children - 60 percent; and Hispanic children - 67 percent.
Poverty is a big problem, a very big problem.

In my last blog, I mentioned the poverty that I experienced as a child. I will never forget one Christmas in particular. Mom was able to put together a Christmas dinner of beans and potatoes – and we were thankful for that. My grandmother had sent us $15. That was the extent of the money that we had for food, gifts, everything for a family of seven. Sad.

The thing that stands out in my mind is, we lived next door to a church. A church which did absolutely nothing to help.

Listen to these verses of Scripture:

Deuteronomy 15:10-11 (The New Living Translation) says, “Give freely without begrudging it, and the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. There will always be some among you who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share your resources freely with the poor…”
Psalm 140:12, “I know that the Lord maintains the cause of the needy and executes justice for the poor.”
Proverbs 14:21 (The Message) adds, “It's criminal to ignore a neighbor in need, but compassion for the poor—what a blessing!”

Think of it this way. If I am poor, that isn’t just my problem, that is a problem for the church too. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 14:31 (The Message), “You insult your Maker when you exploit the powerless; when you're kind to the poor, you honor God.”

The Redeemed Team

You Will Worry a Lot Less

7/6/2020

Those who know me well know that I was raised in terrible poverty. I mean, my family was considered poor by the poor people. I once asked my dad why we didn’t shop at the Salvation Army Thrift Store instead of at the mission. I will never forget his answer: “That’s where the rich poor people shop.” I realized then and there that my family was the low man on the token pole.

I was not only poor, I looked poor. I had broken teeth. I was skinny. My clothes were hand-me-downs that oft-times looked like hand-me-downs. My nickname was “Scarecrow.” (Not very flattering, is it?) It was against that backdrop of poverty that I read a book. I don’t remember the name of the book or the name of the person who wrote it. All I remember about the book is one simple line. That one simple line, though, changed my life. The author wrote: “You will worry a lot less about what people think of you when you realize how seldom they do!” Due to my complex complexes, I use to think that everybody was setting around looking at as well as thinking about me. My poverty. My physical appearance. My clothes. And yet, the truth is, they weren’t thinking about me at all. They were, like me, thinking of themselves!

Another wise person noted:

At age 20, we worry about what others think of us.
At 40, we don't care what they think of us.
At 60, we discover that they haven't been thinking about us at all.

In short: look at others and be distressed;
look at self and be depressed;
look at Jesus and you will be blessed.

That is pretty good advice, if you want my two cents worth.

The Redeemed Team

It Is Not For Sale

6/30/2020

Recently, I have been sharing about forgiveness. The beginning point of true forgiveness is to emotionally accept the fact that you have been hurt. Christians often try to deny or cover up their pain, but we need to allow God to bring it to the surface so He can heal it.

Resolve now to forgive. If you wait until you feel like forgiving, it will never happen. Emotions can heal only after you have decided to forgive. Forgiveness demands an act of the will. Now take the offense to the Lord and let Him help you bear it; forgive it.

Put your forgiveness into words. Say to the Lord something like this: ‘Lord, I forgive him/her (name each and every one on your list) for ________.’ Get it out there. Admit the offense. The Lord knows all about it already. He will not be shocked by your feelings or your words.

Walk out your forgiveness. Put the past in the past and leave it there. You have a lot of living to do. Live it without the ball and chain of yesterday’s offenses. The Apostle Paul said that he was forgetting the past. Why not follow his lead.

A little boy came to the Washington Monument and noticed a guard standing by it. The lad looked up at the guard and said, "I want to buy it." The guard stooped down and said, "How much do you have?" The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out 25 cents. The guard said, "That's not enough." The boy replied, "I thought you would say that." So, he pulled out nine cents more. The guard looked down at the boy and said, "You need to understand three things.

First, 34 cents is not enough, 34 million dollars is not enough to buy the Washington Monument. Second, the Washington Monument is not for sale. And third, if you are an American citizen, the Washington Monument already belongs to you."

Maybe you need to have God forgive you. Friends, please understand these three things about God's forgiveness:

First, we cannot earn it.
Second, it is not for sale.
And third, if we accept Christ, we already have it.

Have you been forgiven?

The Redeemed Team

Unconditional

6/19/2020

Do you need to forgive someone? Anyone? Do you? If so, understand this. Real forgiveness is unconditional. There’s no attachment to it. We don’t earn it. We don’t deserve it. We can’t bargain for it. Forgiveness is never based on a promise to never do it again. Again, it is simply unconditional.

Secondly, forgiveness is a big deal. The fact that you or someone that you love has been hurt is a big deal. The fact that the issue is still with you is a big deal. The fact that you may not have already dealt with the issue and moved on with forgiveness is a big deal. To minimize forgiveness is to cheapen forgiveness. Forgiveness is a big deal. If you do not believe that, you do not have any comprehension of what the cross of Calvary is all about.

In spite of the biggest of the task, we have to forgive. Consider the alternative. An eye for an eye becomes a leg for a leg and, eventually, a life for a life. No matter what our weapons are -- words, clubs, arrows, guns, bombs, nuclear missiles -- revenge locks us into an escalation of violence.

GHANDI once observed: "If we practice and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the whole world will be blind and toothless." The only way out is forgiveness!

It is my opinion that if Jesus had not forgiven His murderers, He would have died and simply would have been forgotten.

The key to His grand victory was His grand forgiveness!
Without it, Jesus would have been like anyone else.
Forgiving them made it possible for Him to forgive us.
He showed us an undeniable lesson that forgiveness under any circumstance with God's help -- is possible!

Therefore, leave it to Him:

He loves everyone involved. He has proved that.
He knows the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
He is faithful and just.
Then too, Abraham said, “The judge of all the earth will do right.” He will.

If you can’t forgive, God can. Release the hurt up to Him and let Him forgive though you. He can and He will.

The Redeemed Team

Shared Blame

6/8/2020

Hardly anything in life is any more difficult than forgiving someone who has hurt you – or someone that you love -- deeply. Nonetheless, that is the very thing that we have to do if we are going to enjoy God’s forgiveness.

So today, I want to encourage you to forgive as one who needs to be forgiven. Jesus told us to not forget the log that was in our own eye as we examine the speck that is in our brother's eye. He also noted, “let him who is sinless throw the first rock!”

While here, do you realize that it is hard to arrogantly condemn someone else over their sin when you are humbly confessing and acknowledging your own?
Years ago, I was having to deal with this issue of forgiveness. Someone had wronged me. I was angry. Frankly, I wanted God to rain fire and brimstone down on their head.

One day as I was praying, I felt the Lord ask me if I had any fault in the matter?
Was I:

5% guilty?
10% guilty?
25% guilty?
50% guilty?

To be honest, I had to accept some of the blame – no more than 10%, mind you -- but I did share in the fault. The Lord then let me know that I needed forgiveness for that 10%. As far as the other person was concerned, that was a matter between them and the Lord.
Revelation 12:4 calls the devil the “accuser of the brethren.” What a fitting description. He accuses us before God, he accuses us to others, he even accuses us to ourselves. As Christians, we must not assume the role of the accuser. Rather, we are to bless those who curse us; we are to pray for those who de-spitefully use us.
Somebody told John Wesley one time, “I could never forgive that person!” And Wesley said, “Then I hope you never sin.”
Are you grappling with this issue of forgiveness? Perhaps you have been so focused on the faults of the other person that you have completely overlooked your own role in the tiff. Maybe it is time to look inward. Could it be that you are at least partly to blame? Rather than spend precious time and energy accusing the other person, why not acknowledge your role, seek God’s forgiveness, and move on with your life. You can thank me later.

The Redeemed Team

Cut It Down

6/3/2020

One of my favorite words is rather difficult to pronounce, therefore please allow me to just spell it for you: ISSUMAGIJOUTUNGNAINERMIK. It is an Eskimo word which means: "NOT BEING ABLE TO THINK ABOUT IT ANYMORE." In English, it simply means to forgive.

I like this story. In Charles Flood's book, Lee: The Last Years, he tells of a time after the Civil War when Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky woman who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her home. There she cried bitterly that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Union artillery fire. She waited for Lee to condemn the North or at least sympathize with her loss. Lee paused, and then said, “Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it.” There comes a time when that is the only wise course of action: simply, “Cut it down, and forget it.” Just move on.

While here, let me state, QUIT WAITING ON THE OTHER PERSON TO APOLOGIZE.
Since I have been a pastor, I have had people lie to me, steal from me, say evil and untrue things about me and more. Do you know how many have come back to say that they are sorry for their evil deeds? I could probably count them on one hand. Few people have the needed courage or humility that it takes to say "I'm sorry" even when they know they are wrong.

Jesus didn't wait for an apology as He was dying on Calvary -- He took the lead: “FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.”

In our anger or pain, we may feel that we should withhold our forgiveness, until our injurer repents. But consider this question from another angle. Making our forgiveness dependent on another's repentance is not very helpful. It sets us up to be a victim, not just once, but twice! By making our forgiveness so dependent, we hand considerable power over our lives, to the one who injured us!

Some wise soul has observed: “Forgiveness releases us from the past, restores the present, and provides a bases for healing in the future.”

The Redeemed Team

Let It Go

5/23/2020

Corrie Ten Boom in her excellent book "Tramp for The Lord” tells of a time when some close Christian friends hurt her. Forgiveness was hard; it took time. Finally, it happened, and she was able to move on.

Many years later, she was now past eighty years old, a friend paid Corrie a visit. As the two of them sat in her tiny apartment in Holland, he asked about those people who years earlier had taken advantage of her.

"It is nothing," Corrie said, "It is all forgiven."

Then she continued, “They say there is nothing to forgive! They deny it ever happened. No matter what they say, though, I can prove they were wrong."

I want to continue the story now using Corrie’s own words: I went eagerly to my desk. "See, I have it in black and white! I saved all their letters and I can show you where...."
My friend slipped his arm through mine and gently closed the drawer. "Corrie! Aren't you the one whose sins are at the bottom of the sea? Yet are the sins of your friends etched in black and white?"

For an astonishing moment I could not find my voice. "Lord Jesus," I whispered at last, "who takes all my sins away, forgive me for preserving all these years the evidence against others! Give me grace to burn all the blacks and whites as a sweet-smelling sacrifice to your glory."

I did not go to sleep that night until I had gone through my desk and pulled out those letters--curling now with age--and fed them all into (the fire.) “Forgive us our trespasses,” Jesus thought us to pray, “as we forgive those who trespass against us.” In the ashes of those letters I was seeing yet another facet of His mercy....”
She went on to write, “Forgiveness is the key which unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.”

1 Corinthians 13:5 simply notes that love “keeps no record of wrongs suffered.”
If you want to truly and completely forgive, drop the matter. Let it go.

The Redeemed Team

Try The Door

5/14/2020

Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist, use to issue a challenge wherever he went. He could be locked in any jail cell in the country, he claimed, and set himself free in short order. He had always kept his promise, that is until one time something went wrong. Houdini entered the jail in his street clothes; the heavy metal doors clanged shut behind him. He took from his belt a concealed piece of metal, strong and flexible. He set to work immediately, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock. For thirty minutes he worked and got nowhere. An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door. By now he was bathed in sweat and panting in exasperation, but he still could not pick the lock. Finally, after laboring for two hours, Harry Houdini collapsed in frustration and failure against the door he could not unlock. But when he fell against the door, it swung open! You see, IT HAD NEVER BEEN LOCKED AT ALL! But in his mind, it was locked, and that was all it took to keep him from opening the door and walking out of the jail cell.

Some of you may be shut tight in a cell of your own making. The prison is a blockhouse of “I can’t”, “I am too fat”, “too old”, “too ugly”, ‘too poor”, “dumb”, or simply to0 this or to that.” I pray that today you will challenge the door that holds you fast. With God’s help, you can be set free!

One of my favorite verses of Scripture is Philippians 4:13. It says, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Think with me. “I can...through Christ.” “I can through Christ who gives me strength.”

Someone once noted, “Christ does not do everything for the believer; neither does the believer do everything for himself. Both Christ and the believer have a part in conquering circumstances. The believer declares, ‘I can,’ and he gets up and faces the circumstances head on. It is then that Christ steps in and strengthens the believer. Christ infuses strength into the believer while the believer is tackling the problem.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 confirms, “… for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Psalm 40:17 adds in The Living Bible, “I am poor and weak, yet the Lord is thinking about me right now! O my God, you are my helper. You are my Savior; come quickly and save me. Please don’t delay!”

Hear me, please. With Jesus, you can. Now go try to door.

The Redeemed Team

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