The Inconvenience of Poverty

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An Old Danish proverb says: “It’s no disgrace to be poor, but it can be inconvenient.” I’m sure many could testify to the validity of this proverb. It’s never convenient to sit in a house where the electricity has been cut off for lack of payment. Things become so inconvenient. While the top dogs enjoy all the convenience made possible by a good income, the underdogs suffer the inconvenience of poverty. Incidentally, some of us may be in darkness before we know it. Electric bills don’t just go up once a year. Thanks to the mismanagement of TVA, they are increased quarterly.

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Ask little children in school about poverty, and they will tell you of poverty’s inconvenience. The isolation produced by poverty reminds them daily of their underdog status. What is so tragic is the fact that adults who could make a difference in their lives don’t seem to care. All the churchgoers who wouldn’t dare miss a service of the church, will be freed in the judgment with all of the lost opportunities they had to become a blessing to unfortunate boys and girls. When the judgment of their lives have been put in rewind and they see the faces of little children whom they neglected, and hear the cries of those who cried themselves to sleep because they didn’t have the money to take a trip their peers were taking, or to buy the pretty clothes their classmates wear, then they will be found spiritually naked – the worst kind of poverty.

LBJ tried hard to eradicate poverty among the children of America, but later leadership squandered this country’s resources, sending over jobs to Mexico and China, the lack of which is producing a substandard life for millions of children. I’d just as soon be Baby Face Nelson on the day of judgment as to be the greedy politicians who have imposed their way of life upon the families of America.

But isn’t there something godly men and women can do? There is. Jesus once said, “For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good; but me ye have not always” (Mark 14:7). Church members who drive good cars to church, sit on padded pews and enjoy the comfort of air-conditioning, may not have enough oil in their lamps to escape the darkness of torment – all because they didn’t care enough to help those in need. Jesus said, “We can do them good,” and we should. Count your blessings my friend; it may help you to develop a heart of compassion for the less fortunate of the world. Paul admonished the churches of Galatia “to do good unto all men” (Galatians 6:10), and we should. When we give an account of our lives before God, we’ll not be sorry that we reached out to boys and girls, men and women who had so little of this world’s goods.

Have a good week everybody!