Never Been a Thief
I was surprised to get this verse. Usually I get a verse to write about that I have some personal experience. This time I do not. I have never been a thief, stolen stuff or even wanted to (other than the thrill of stealing a trinket as a kid just to see if I could do it). I was brought up in a home of hard working parents and a hard working culture.
However the flip side of my good environment was self-sufficiency and condemnation for those who did not work hard to look after their own needs. Everyone can take care of himself or herself if they just work hard enough. It never occurred to me that a poor person may be poor not of their own accord or that I should possibly help them. They were simply lazy and therefore just needed to work, definitely not receive money from us hard workers.
Over the years the Lord has changed my heart through passages like these:
Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. – Proverbs 14:31
Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done. – Proverbs 19:17
Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. – Proverbs 28:27
The word of God softened my hard self-sufficient heart but so did a judge. My family had decided to serve at a soup kitchen in the inner city one holiday season. After serving I sat beside a middle age man and asked him his story. I wanted to know what happens to get a man to this place. He must just be lazy.
At one time he lived an affluent life. Through much education and hard work he rose to the Bench to uphold the law. Then one night a fire ravaged his home and lost all. After recovery from that he was divorced. Then a little while later his two daughters were killed. At that point he quit his job out of complete despair. I was speaking to a modern day Job. He simply threw in the towel. Who can blame him? My heart was broken from his story and the word of God.
We are instructed to work hard not to develop self-sufficiency and pad our accounts but to be givers. We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the poor and needy around us because we do not know their whole story.
That certainly struck a cord. Having come from a childhood of needing, working hard to climb out of poverty, and being a cheerful giver today, that still struck a cord.
Not long ago I heard a song that started the work in my heart on this very topic Mark Wills, Don’t Laugh At Me:
…
I’m the cripple on the corner
You’ve passed me on the street
And I wouldn’t be out here beggin’
If I had enough to eat
And don’t think I don’t notice
That our eyes never meet
I lost my wife and little boy when
Someone cross that yellow line
The day we laid them in the ground
Is the day I lost my mind
And right now I’m down to holdin’
This little cardboard sign…
I guess I still have work to do in this department. Thanks for stirring it up!
Isn’t it interesting that when God instructs us to be open-handed with the poor He does not ask us to: 1) interview them to discover how they got that way 2) make a determination on whether they are worthy of our mercy or not.
Yet I instinctively follow these steps every time I see a guy begging money on the off ramp.
Amazingly Jesus knows how we all arrived at our sinful state, determined that we are completely bankrupt and unworthy, but extended mercy anyway.
Thanks for being an example of God’s mercy, Rob.
Amen! We just do not know circumstances. We know that from working with MUST. But whether or not the poor fit a stereotype in our minds, that does not matter to God. One other verse, not meaning to stir the pot, but I think Hebrews 13, verses 1 and 2 could apply. While we extend Jesus’ hand to the poor, widows, orphans (“true religion”), and strangers… we may be unknowingly extending it to an angel.
Great piece, Rob…and great msg. to start another week, blessed in the Lord.
Love & blessings,
Anita
Amen, brother Ben…. I mean Rob. Keep on preachin’