A Heart For the Poor

 

Job continues his defense to his friends in chapter 31 and he touches on fair wages and fair treatment for his servants. This sounds like something we need to consider if we are an employer, or even if we do business with someone engaged in unfair labor practices. Sometimes, getting a bigger bang for your buck comes with repercussions.

 

Job 31:13,14 says, “If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant When they complained against me,  14 What then shall I do when God rises up? When He punishes, how shall I answer Him?

What?

God rises up and punishes those who mistreat their workers?

Jas 5:1-4 reminds us of the truth of this matter! “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, (you hoarded them!) and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. (kind of reminds you of the parable of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31!) James continues: “You have heaped up treasure (not the good kind) in the last days.” This is the lot of those who neglect the poor. Such neglect is proof of a lack of reverence for God.  Pr 14:31 says, “He who oppresses the poor reproaches (insults) his Maker, But he who honors Him (God) has mercy on the needy. Ever consider that? Every penny given for the sake of the poor is honoring God!

 

Might be time to rework the old budget huh? Make a little room in there for the needy?

James continues: “4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”

Whoa! God hears the cry of the poor and the oppressed and you can bet HE’s going to do something about it! And He’s going to do something about it because it’s proof positive of a lack of saving faith.

James explains this is Jas 2:15-17, “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

 

Dead faith is no faith at all! Good luck bringing the credentials of dead faith  to the Pearly Gates!

John puts it this way in 1Jo 3:17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

Now, the Bible is not saying that helping the poor is your non-revocable ticket to heaven! No! It is faith in Jesus alone that saves, but that faith will result in acts of mercy for the needy.

Jesus said in Mt 10:42 "And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, (a follower of Jesus) assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward."

 

Are you a follower of Jesus? Prove it! Make room in your heart for the poor. Your hands, and feet and wallet will follow! Such benevolence is an expression of Jesus living in you, bringing honor to the Father!