“There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.”
Deuteronomy 15:11 (NIV)
God has commanded us to give to the poor.
Not an option for us, not a nice thing to do if you manage to get around to it.
Be openhanded and freely lend
Give generously without a grudging heart.
Open handed is how we are supposed to live with everything we have and everything we are.
We are to give our lives up, if we cling to our life we lose our life.
We are to share our wealth with the poor, if we cling to our wealth we lose.
If we open our hands to the poor, God will open His hand to us.
We love to define poor- some even will say there are no poor in Canada compared to Africa.
Its is like defining old age- its all relative - for old is older than me- poor is poorer than me.
We are all rich in Canada you say- yeah we are all rich compared to the rest of the world- but not compared to each other.
Another argument against giving to the poor is that they need to change their behaviour, surely in a rich country like Canada people are poor by choice. Interestingly there is no mention of the responsibilities of the poor to change their behaviour, only of the responsibilities of those who are not poor to help the poor financially.
Canada is a land of milk and honey and a place of peace and prosperity, a country highly rated amongst the peoples of the world.
So when we read verse 4 we realize that there need be no poor in our land, for God has richly blessed us, and yet God says in verse 11 that there will always be poor in the land, for He knows how tight we hang on to our wealth. He knows the hardness of our hearts.
Forgive us Lord, change us Lord, use us Lord.
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