Tag: Devotional

  • Poverty and the Poor You Always Have With You 

    Live with Jesus love and compassion

    Homeless. poverty, A row of dome tents covered with blue and brown tarps lined up along a shaded sidewalk beside a chain-link fence.

    Like many other communities, we have what seems to be a growing population of homeless people. We also have large numbers of people who have a place to live but struggle with poverty. Our community is not alone in this problem; I doubt there is a community out there that doesn’t struggle with some form of poverty. Some hide it better than others, but it still exists.

    Poverty isn’t a new problem. It’s as timeless as sin itself and will continue until the Lord returns. There are people in poverty because of mental illness or poor life choices. Others are there because of circumstances beyond their control. It isn’t a one-size-fits-all problem. Some only need a hand up, while no amount of help will bring others out.

    Jesus Himself said:

    For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”  John 12:8  (see also Matthew 26:11, Mark 14:7

    Jesus is responding to complaints about a woman who had anointed Him with costly perfume. The disciples complained that the money could have been spent on the poor, but they really wanted it for themselves. I think they were jealous of the woman’s extravagant act of worship.

    Jesus saying here is often misunderstood. Some take it to be fatalistic: there will always be poor people, so don’t even try. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus is, in fact, pointing them back to a passage they should have known well.

    For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV

    The Deuteronomy passage does not merely predict the continuing presence of poverty; it commands God’s people to respond with generosity. Jesus’ words therefore should not be understood as an excuse for neglecting the poor. In Mark 14:7, He explicitly adds that they can do good to the poor whenever they wish.

    We are called to be generous in our worship of God, but also called not to neglect those in need.

    It’s true we can’t fully solve the problem, but we can show Jesus’ love through how we respond to the poor. The Lord doesn’t call us to believe poverty doesn’t exist or to turn a blind eye. We’re called to act in love.

    God didn’t send His Son believing that everyone would accept His love. He sent Him knowing full well that the problem of sin would not go away in this world (until He returns). He came in love, humility and sacrifice even when the problem would continue. 

    We are called to love and compassion the same way.

     Kevin

    SUMMARY

    Jesus’ words about the poor were never a reason to look away from them. We can’t end poverty in this world, but we can meet it with the same love Christ showed us.

    TAKEAWAY

    Jesus wasn’t telling us to give up on the poor. He was pointing back to Deuteronomy 15:11, a passage His disciples should have known well, where God commands us to open wide our hand to the needy.

    Poverty isn’t a one-size-fits-all problem. Some people only need a hand up, while no amount of help will bring others out. Either way, we’re called to act in love.

     

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  • Daniel and the Lions – how old was Daniel?

    Sometimes the Sunday school version doesn’t match the text

    Daniel and the lions - A man in a dark robe sits cross-legged on the stone floor of a cave, his back to the viewer, surrounded by resting lions as beams of sunlight stream down from an opening above.

    I was reading in Daniel last week when I read something about Daniel and the lions. It’s funny how the things we learn and assimilate at an early age tend to stick with us throughout our lives. That’s true for Sunday School Bible teaching. Unfortunately, what we’re taught is often a sanitized, condensed or even erroneous version. It’s not done maliciously, but it happens.

    Let me give some examples. Noah is pictured with pairs of animals in almost every Sunday school illustration – the Bible says seven pairs of clean animals and pairs of unclean. The three magi who show up to see the infant Christ – we all know the image. The problem is that we don’t know how many magi there were, and they didn’t arrive until he was a child; the word suggests he was already weaned. Mary riding a donkey to Bethlehem – great image, possible even, but the Bible doesn’t say.

    Now let’s look at Daniel and the lions.

    Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!”  And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.  Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”  Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces. Daniel 6:16-24 ESV

    Daniel was saved, and the king glorified God. It’s a marvelous account of God’s protection and judgment.

    How old was Daniel? From childhood illustrations, I always pictured him as a young man.

    Daniel was likely in his 80s, as nearly 70 years of captivity had passed. He came as a teen and was sent to the lions’ den after Persia had conquered Babylon. We usually see him illustrated as a young man.

    Believers need to make a habit of reading the Word for themselves. It’s important that we know the true stories and not rely on someone else’s telling or a childhood drawing.

    Read the Word. Read the Word. Read the Word.

    Kevin

    #ReadTheBible #BibleStudy #SundaySchool #Scripture #Lions

    SUMMARY

    Daniel was likely in his 80s when he faced the lions, not the young man our Sunday school pictures show. Make a habit of reading the Word for yourself so you know the true account and not someone else’s telling.

    TAKEAWAY

    What we learn as children sticks, and the Sunday school version is often sanitized, condensed or wrong.

    Daniel was likely in his 80s when he was cast into the den, not the young man of the illustrations.

    Make a habit of reading the Word for yourself rather than relying on someone else’s telling.

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