Poverty

Good morning!

At issue everywhere that poverty appears is God's test of man's soul. For the poor it is a question of patient endurance of God's yoke. For the rich it is a question of love working through material goods.

The mystery of poverty is that God uses the needy to stand in His stead among all the nations of the world. Because their yoke is burdensome, God lightens their plight with excess of faith, hope, and love. And through them God tests:

1. Those whose service to Him is in talk only, mere lip-service.

2. Those who cannot resist the temptation to take advantage of the weak.

3. Those who, in their eagerness to display their love, seek Him out in the needy where He may be found, and give of their goods, time, talents, and skills to them. ---- Berghoef and DeKoster

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called. If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin....  (See also. Leviticus 19:15-16; I Samuel 2:7-8; Psalm 35:10; Luke 10:29-37). 

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A hymn to read or sing aloud to the glory of God: WHEN THE WEARY, SEEKING REST.