There has always been a poor person in the world, even among believers. Rev 2:19. Why should people ever people poor? What can be done so that no one is ever poor again? What is poverty? What causes it? Is poverty a friend or an enemy of any body?
Poverty is defined as a desperate shortage of spending power and it is not a new problem. It is also not a problem that can be solved easily unless we follow divine methods. Deut 15:11, Prov 10:15, Matt 26:11, Deut 15:1-11.
There are several examples of poverty in the bible, Gideon- Judges 6:15, the widow of Zarephat- 1 Kings 17:9-16, the poor widow-Mark 12:42, Apostle Paul 2 Cor 6:10 are but a few examples.
There are three categories of what cause poverty;
1). Personal losses. These includes laziness- Prov 20:13, foolish spending and miserliness- Prov 11:24, love of pleasure- Prov 21:17.
2). Human outside causes. These include bad government- Is 3:14, harsh employers- James 5:4, corrupt trading- Prov 22:16, robbery- Luke 10:30, wars- Ps 79:1-4.
3). Causes beyond human realm. These include drought- 1 King 17:7, diseases- Acts 3:1-10, bad weather- Ps 78:47, satanic meddling- 2 Cor 4:4, Divine punishment- 1 Sam 2:7.
Poverty causes a lot of problems includes national, family, social problems, increase in crimes, sickness, mental stress etc. Therefore, poverty is an enemy and it must not accommodate. Since God wants us to prosper 3 John 2, there is no reason why we must be satisfied with anything less than true prosperity. But how do we handle poverty and its twin evil greed?
GENEROSITY
The law of harvest is the basic principle on how to become wealthy. Give and you shall be given, good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over will men give to your bosom….. Luke 6:38.The harvest is always abundantly more than the seed sown. How much should we give to whom? When? Where? How?
Our greatest example of generosity is God Himself. God the father is so generous. He gave His all. John 3:16 and God the Son is so generous He gave His life. John 10:11. God the Holy Spirit is so generous He gave all the glory to Jesus Christ. John 16:13-14. Another word for generous is liberal 2 Cor 8:2, 9:6.
The giving of the Lord is not only generous but constant too. What a lesson to us His children. Deut 11:13-15, Gen 9:12-15.
The Lord expects us to be generous to Him, to His people and to the poor including our enemies. Ex 35:5, 1 Chro 29:9, Matt 3:8-9, Mark 12:41-44.
We will see the blessing of generosity and the principles of giving.
1). The Lord has special blessings including prosperity, Divine glory overflowing, sufficiency and rewards in the life to come. Ps 41:1, Prov 3:9-10, Prov 11:25, 22:9, 28:27.
2). The Divine principles for giving are clearly set out. We are to give according to our ability, gladly without deceit, freely from the heart, regularly and often secretly. Deut 2:68-69, 16:17, Matt 5:42, Acts 1:29, 2 Cor 8:1-15, Mark 12:44.
Therefore, we see that if we give to the Lord to His saints and to the needy, we shall be abundantly blessed. However, we must give as the Lord directs so that our ‘left’ hand should not know what our ‘right’ hand is doing.
WORK
Working is not evil but a blessing.
1). Work is part of God’s creation (man, animals, angels, firmament, land and sea etc). God command man to work before and after the fall, angels worship God day and night, they work continuously without resting. The academicians today might have said that an unwilling attitude to work is the beginning of mental problem. Gen 2:15, 3:17-19, Ruth 2:17, 1 Kings11:28, Heh 4:21, Prov 31:10-13, Is 18:3, 1 Cor 4:12. If it is possible, we enjoin us to work from morning till evening.
2). Individuals must have their respective duties, every individuals must be full of work especially believers who should be good examples to the world around them. The rich themselves must work. Ex 20:9, 34:21, Eph 4:28, 1 Thess 4:11-12. Laziness is a destroyer. We are not only commanded to work, but to work hard.
3). Hard work brings great gain but laziness takes one to a position of poverty, hunger and shame. Prov 6:6-11, 10:5, 14:23, 19:15, 2 Thess 3:6-15. If a nts work, why human beings will not work, as long as our God Himself works. John 5:17. Remember the parable of the talents and pray that God will give you grace to be a faithful worker.
QUOTES FOR TODAY
“Giving is the road to the city of wealth; sacrifice is the key to its strong room”
- Pastor E.A Adeboye
No comments:
Post a Comment