What About The Poor?
If there is among you a poor man, one of your brethren, in any of your towns within your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him, and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take heed lest there be a base thought in your heart, and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye be hostile to your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and it be sin in you. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him; because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in the land.
I have been writing and speaking much of late regarding choice and freedom.
Choice and freedom are important concepts, for they are at the heart of right action and righteous deeds. It is because we are free to choose that we have the power to choose to do the right thing. It is because we are free to act that we have the capacity to actually do that right thing.
Yet we must do more than revel in our freedom and indulge our capacity for making choices. We must at some juncture identify what the righteous choice is and what that good thing is. We must actually make that righteous choice. We must actually do that good thing.
Making that righteous choice means being specific. Making that righteous choice means saying “I will do X at Y time on Z date”. Making that righteous choice means saying “I will help people A, B, and C.”
Making that righteous choice also means asking ourselves what likely consequences we see arising from that choice, and understanding who will be impacted by it.
Making that righteous choice means deciding which of the foreseeable consequences we are willing to endure, and which consequences we are not.
Making that righteous choice means thinking through all our choices and then following through on whatever we choose.
We have seen much in the news of late about the upcoming election and about the candidates. We have heard again and again about the importance of the election. I have even written and spoke about the importance of choosing not to be slaves, thus adding my voice to the political cacophony.
Yet if we are thinking through all our choices, and evaluating all our options, we must also remember that we have more choices before us than just an election.
We must also remember that each of us continues to exist in a real world filled with people, a real world filled with people who are struggling, a real world filled with people who need help.
We must remember that each of us continues to exist in a real world filled with people who need our help today.
We must remember that we must make real choices regarding these people. We must remember that we must take real actions. We must remember that our real actions will have real consequences impacting untold numbers of real people.
We must remember we live in a world where the Governor of California issues an executive order to clear out homeless encampments, leaving it undetermined what shall happen to the homeless afterwards.
We must remember we live in a world where the Congress has decided not to extend a child tax credit, which will impact the finances of an untold number of families.
These were real choices. These were real actions. These will have real consequences that will impact untold numbers of real people.
We must remember that we live in a world where the President of the United States struck a deal with Russia that secured the freedom of four Americans. We must remember that we live in a world where their freedom was achieved as part of a large exchange of some 24 prisoners, including three convicted of crimes here in the United States, and one convicted in Germany of murder.
This was a real choice. This was a real action. This has real consequences impacting the lives of real people.
Were these choices good choices? Some will say “yes”, others will say “no.”
Without any doubt, these were choices that real people in real positions of authority were called upon to make. We should certainly hope they at least felt they made the good choice. It would be a special brand of villany if the officials making these choices did so thinking these were the evil choices.
In every part of the world, there are people living in poverty. In every part of the world, there are people languishing in prison. In every part of the world there are people who are suffering, people who are struggling, people who are challenged just to get through a single day.
In every part of the world there are people who need help. In every part of your community, there are people who need your help.
There is no grand insight in saying that we are called to help such people. There is no great wisdom, Christian or otherwise, to say that we are called to be compassionate toward such people. We are called to help and we are called to be compassionate. Not only does Scripture tell us this, but so does common sense and common decency.
As Deuteronomy reminds us, we are not called to be legalistic or particular when it comes to helping the poor. We are not called to give rationalizations should we choose to turn our back on them.
Rather, we are called to embrace the challenge and the sacrifice of helping those who are in need, and making sure that they have enough to satisfy their needs at least for today.
What must you do to help the poor and the suffering?
That is a real choice you must make. That is a real choice only you can make for myself.
That is a real choice you must make today, and every day.
What must I do to help the poor and the suffering?
That is a real choice I must make. That is a real choice only I can make for myself.
That is a real choice I must make today, and every day.
Is it a real choice I always make wisely and well? No. It is not. I probably flub it more than I get it right.
Yet it remains a real choice that is before me. It remains a real choice that I must make today and every day. It is a real choice that, even if I got it wrong yesterday, I may yet get right today and tomorrow.
Will I get it right? Not all the time. I hope I will, and I pray I will, but I would be arrogant and hypocritical if I said I always get my choices right.
Will you get it right? Not all the time. I hope you will, and I pray you will, but I also pray you will not be arrogant and hypocritical and proclaim you always get your choices right.
As we are inundated with media messages about the “important” choices we will soon be called to make, I pray we remember the even more important choices we must make right here and right now. I pray we remember all the real people all around us who need our help and who deserve our compassion.
We are called every day to make real choices. We are called every day to take real actions. We are called every day to touch the lives of real people.
My prayer is that we will remember this, today, and every day. My prayer is that we will make the choice to answer that call, today, and every day.
My prayer is that we will always choose to help those real people all around us who are poor, who are struggling, and who need our mercy and our compassion.
We are called to help others. Let us always choose to do so.
It has been postulated that God is, among other things, Pure Love, vibrating at the highest frequency possible. Obviously, there is no scientific way to prove it, at this point in time. But when you give out of truly caring love, with goodwill toward men - the ‘Christmas spirit’ - you also vibrate at the high frequency of love, and thus feel more of the love of God. You are being more God-like.
When government commits short-term socialist actions that ‘seem’ to be caring - such as letting millions of illegal immigrants cross into the US - the inadvertent consequences are that great long-term harm is done. Fentanyl comes in across the open border, millions become addicted and homeless, and then government ultimately has to become cruel. As you’ve said, Peter, actions have consequences. Also, millions of other people effectively become enslaved by these socialist policies, and eventually impoverished by the taxes.
The solution is to GROW the economic pie bigger through voluntary productivity, and then individual people will feel prosperous enough to give voluntarily. They will give from the heart, with genuine caring. Under socialism, their earnings are taken by force, and people are thereby ‘giving’ with great resentment. It is NOT a ‘goodwill toward men’ feeling. Resentment is NOT a God-like feeling.
So yes, we need to give, but it’s only good if it genuinely comes from the heart. Give not only money, but many things that are more important than money: encouragement, listening, compliments, friendship, and all other God-like caring.
One of the reasons that I gush compliments at you so frequently, Peter, is that it is a consciously given gift to you from me. Most of your readers think that you are brilliant, but they aren’t voicing it often enough. You deserve validation, appreciation, respect, and admiration. I am happy to give it to you. You so thoroughly deserve it. I hope that more of your subscribers will also express their appreciation.
Bless you always, dear Peter. You are cherished and respected.