Poverty isn't something we can just ignore. It's not something that we can just say "well, I don't know what to do…" and then not do anything. It's a pressing matter. Both physical and emotional poverty have damaging physical and emotional effects. In one person, one poverty may even incite the other. They are disastrously related. Therefore, we can't just ignore poverty, or poverty as a whole will find new avenues and will grow.
If you don't know what to do, don't just sit and do nothing. Pray about it. Then go look at what Jesus did. Then at what other people in the church who have been truly listening to God are doing. If you haven't found your "niche" yet, or haven't found what area of involvement in eradicating poverty you are most passionate about, pray about it and ask God to lead you then start doing different things while asking God to show you the way. The worst that would happen is that you would help someone without being passionate about it (which is perfectly fine because it's not about us anyway). God will show you your niche. He'll show you where he will plant you and where you will be the most fruitful. We can't use the excuse that we "don't know what to do" then not go look for something to do.
I've learned personally that it is pride that causes me to say "I am not able" or "I don't know how, so I can't". That type of thinking is not dependent on God, but dependent on self. It is forgetting that God has all the resources in the world, and that, if he wants you to do something, he won't ask you to do it without equipping you for it. Why would God send a soldier into battle unarmed? Right. He never does. Because He's always there as our armor and will give us everything we need. We are called to battle and fight with poverty. God says that there will always be the poor on earth, but that doesn't mean we give up and stop fighting. Every person matters. Just because the poor will always be there doesn't mean that we can ignore the poverty. To ignore it would be like telling a homeless man or a person who is depressed "well, there will always be poverty, so my helping you wouldn't make a difference". There will always be poverty, but that does not mean that they will always be poor. By helping each individual we make a dent in helping the cause as a whole. Jesus brings life and glorious riches (whether riches of knowledge or of having physically enough). When we show Jesus to each individual, we show them how to let Him begin eradicating the poverties in their life so they don't feel like they're doing it all alone. And when we offer them physical means of help (like money, lunch, a home, etc.), we are making a difference in their life, even if we may not be eradicating the worlds' poverties through that action. Every person matters and will make a difference in the long run. Every person, once they become spiritually rich, has the ability to step alongside Jesus and eradicate poverty. We need all the people on our team we can get. The physically and emotionally poor are not to be pitied, ignored, or forgotten. They are to be loved and helped, then considered as a brother and Christ and as a fellow soldier in the fight against emotional and physical poverty.
And for the over-achieving perfectionists out there:
Don't let the fact that you can't do everything stop you from doing something.
I've been in that position. The 8 hours of homework never gets done if you don't go one assignment at a time.
You'll find that, when we begin living by Jesus' call to serve the poor and eradicating physical and emotional poverty, our hearts slowly start to open up more than we ever imagined, and Jesus begins eradicating the poverties in there as well. Some that we didn't even know were there.
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