Fact – 40% of the world’s population lives on less than $2 per day (from book When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert).
How would you define poverty? Most North Americans would simply state the answer to this as the lack of material goods. But is it really? The World Bank after several failed attempts to alleviate poverty decided to ask those in poverty in countries around the world and the results were very intriguing. Those in poverty used words such as shame, inferiority, depression, humiliation, fear, hopelessness, social isolation and voicelessness. This is a far cry from what we North Americans view poverty as.
Now, the next question is what are we as Christians to do about this? Well, the answer to this in large part will depend on how one views the problem because any attempts to alleviate will be largely influenced by what one sees as the cause. And when this mismatch occurs, it can have devastating consequences in further hurting those in poverty even when attempting to help them.
Ultimately we will find poverty is slavery to something other than our Creator. Thus the greatest freedom we can experience in this world is to trust in Christ and co-labor with the Lord in the work He Himself is engaged in in this world.
ReplyDeleteMIke