By David ReayThursday 2 Apr 2015LifeWords DevotionalsCultureReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Luke 6:20
20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said,
“God blesses you who are poor,
for the Kingdom of God is yours. (NLT)
We can make two opposite sorts of mistakes about wealth and poverty when it comes to the Christian faith. One is that we glorify poverty and assume poor people are God’s favourites and rich people are destined to rot in hell. The opposite mistake is to glorify affluence and assume it is a sign of God’s favour: we reckon only the best is good enough for God’s children.
The truth is somewhere in between. There is great danger in material riches because they can express a self-sufficiency,greed,and an attitude of not needing the grace of God. Then again there is no essential merit in material poverty: it is not a great way to live.
When Jesus speaks of being poor he is not just referring to material wealth or deprivation. The poor are those who have no powerful advocates,who have little or no earthly help or hope,who are on the margins and who don’t count for much in the world’s schemes. This certainly does especially apply to those who are materially poor,but it is not this material poverty that brings God’s favour. It is the helplessness that comes from it.
Of course there can be proud and arrogant poor people and there can be humble and generous rich people. The point is that poverty has many faces. Material poverty may drive us to the strong help of God. But ultimately it is spiritual poverty that is blessed. Recognising our spiritual bankruptcy means we get access to the riches of God’s mercy. In the economy of God,the poor are rich.
Blessings
David Reay