Making Poverty Personal

Are You Concerned About Poverty?

The Parable of the Sheep and Goats (Matthew 25:31-46) has this conclusion, “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal,” Matthew 25:46.  Do you know the major thrust of this parable is poverty? Helping those in poverty, and helping those in need. Jesus speaks of the hungry, the thirsty, the visitor, the unclothed, the sick and the imprisoned. And He sums up this parable by declaring we have a duty to help those in need. “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of these least of these, ye did it not to me,” Matthew 25:45.

We must make poverty personal. We must follow the example of Jesus and reach out to those in need. But, can we, when many of us don’t know anyone in need? Seriously, how many poor people do you know? How many who fail to clothe themselves and their children do you know? How many fail to put solid meals on the table do you know? I am afraid with many Christians in America today, we don’t know many if any poor people at all.

Now some of us justify our failure to know anyone poor and help support them by claiming, “Well, we do give to the church. And isn’t that the churches job to help the poor?” Yes, it is the churches job to help those in need. But, it is also yours! James teaches us of our personal responsibility to help the poor in James 2:14-18. In short James teaches, you can have all the belief in the world. But if your faith is not acting, in a way to help your destitute or hungry brethren, then what good is your faith?

Jesus teaches us life is a service test. Jesus teaches there will be a separation of sheep and goats. And those who will be with God for eternity are those who communicate with and help those in need. Are you making poverty personal?

Four Types of Child Abuse – Physical, Emotional, Sexual and Spiritual

“Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate,” Psalm 127:3-5.

Some of the happiest moments of my life are time spent with my children. It has been said for generations that children spell love, t-i-m-e. As we spend time with our children the question must be asked, are we spending the right time with them?  Some clearly spend time with their children but it is abusive, and therefore some children are physically, emotionally, sexually and spiritually abused.

Physical Abuse

Physically abusing children is all too common. Ancient societies and many cultures in our world still allow physical abuse of children.  They feel and believe it is their right. As a matter of fact, it was allowed even in America up till a generation or two ago, when the government started to legislate against physical abuse. Physical abuse comes in many different forms. Having a filthy home environment, preparing inadequate food, not clothing properly, forcing children to breathe second hand smoke, overworking our children, spending funds on booze, cigarettes, gambling and other sins while children live without certain essentials, all of this and more is physical abuse. Then there are the more notorious cases of physical abuse like torture, beatings and even death.

In many cases, abuse is simply a result of excess. There is nothing wrong, matter of fact we should encourage our children by teaching them how to earn a living by the sweating of their brow, Genesis 3:19. But, they were not created to be our slaves. We are encouraged to discipline our children, Proverbs 23:13, but yet this should never be done in anger or excessively. We as parents need to put ourselves in our children’s shoes, and remember the golden rule, and treating the child as we would like to be treated in said situations, Matthew 7:12.

Child Abuse – Emotional

Do you know since abortion was legalized that child abuse has increased 300 percent? Could it be the parents who had no problem killing one child will think little about abusing another?

There are many reasons a parent may emotionally abuse a child. Maybe it is a “learned behavior.” Perhaps that is how their parents raised them and that is how they have chosen to raise their children? Many times emotional abuse occurs in broken homes where a step-parent or live-in, who has no sense of family loyalty takes out their frustration on the children? Sometimes the single-parent takes out their frustration, resentment, and pain on their children. Then there is the influence of drug and alcohol.

The reality is there are children who are emotionally abused by their parents every day. And this is not a poverty cause abuse. This type of abuse can happen in mud brick, thatch roof houses in Africa, or in multimillion dollar homes in America. Some children everyday wake up to the horrors of knowing they are going to hear from mom or dad, “You are a nobody,” “You are hopeless,” “You are incompetent,” “You are stupid,” etc. And these children often grow up allowing this negative message to shape their self-perceptions. Thus suffering with broken spirits, low self-esteem, depression, suicidal thoughts and more.

Parents we are destiny builders. And any person who claims to “love with the love of the Lord.” Will never do anything to squash the innocent, pure spirits of youth, and turn them into resentful, hateful or confused and scared adults. Instead like arrows in a quiver (Psalm 127:3-5) we will do all we can to point them toward God!

Paul said in Romans 13:10 “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor.” Would that not apply to children? Again in 2 Corinthians 10:5 we are to “Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Would that not apply to our children? Let us remember Colossians 3:12, “Fathers provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.” Or a modern rendering might be “Do not embitter your children or they will become discouraged.” Parents, let’s always remember it is the Lord who made our children, and formed them in the womb, and who will be their help (Isaiah 44:2). Let’s help God, help them become the best they can be, and discipline is great and needed, but embitterment is destructive and may be the foundation that leads their souls astray. Let’s point them to God!

Child Abuse – Sexual

When I started writing about child abuse I understood there were four types of child abuse that I wanted to cover: physical, emotional, spiritual and sexual. We will cover spiritual child abuse next week. But, sexual child abuse is something that we don’t want to discuss today. We don’t even want to think about the existence, reality and threat of it. But, we must. We must speak about it for the safety of our children, and because of the huge threat it is today.

Here are some statistics from the CDC website. 20.7% of children abused are sexually abused. There are three million child abuse reports a year. The United States has one of the worst records among first world countries for child abuse. A child is abused in America every ten seconds. 80% of 21 year olds who have been abused suffer from at least one psychological disorder. Abused children are 9 times more likely to become criminals.

We must guard our children from pedophiles. They may be male or female, homosexual or heterosexual. But, due to the rise of child pornography and the decline of morality, nearly every community has child abusers living among them. Knowing this to be true we cannot become paranoid and suspect everyone, but we can’t live with our eyes shut, and be so naïve thinking it can never happen to one of mine.

Every parent must have certain conversations today that they just don’t want to have with their children. But we need to talk to our children and let them know what can happen. Warn them to avoid certain situations, to reject overtures and to report any such overtures as soon as possible.

Every scripture that forbids fornication condemns child abuse, Romans 13:9. And we as parents are commanded to not only guard our hearts, but that of our children.

Child Abuse –Spiritual

Children are given to us to love, not to abuse. Children are a seed, and God is seeking godly seeds today, Malachi 2:15. Children are compared to arrows in our hands and we are to point them to God, Psalm 127:1-5. As parents we are to provide nurturing in the admonition of the Lord, Ephesians 6:4. And if we fail to provide for our children, and part of that would be spiritually speaking, then we are judged by God as being worse than an infidel, 1 Timothy 5:8.

Though sexual, emotional and physical child abuse is criminal. Spiritual child abuse is the only type of child abuse that is legal in our country. It violates no law of man. But, yet, as with any other type of child abuse, God will not ignore spiritual child abuse as does our state.

Today, there are multitudes, multitudes of children who are spiritually neglected. They are not provided with the bread of heaven, Matthew 4:4. Some are taught the vomit of Satan and it will prove to be destructive as well, John 8:32. There are others who allow their children to walk in sinful paths and fail to restrain their children, 1 Samuel 3:13. Other’s allow their children to be immersed in the corrupting influences of this world. By giving their children free access to whatever movies, friends, television shows, music or games that their children want to be involved with. Though scripture warns, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life,” Proverbs 4:23. Children are just that kids. And by reason of their age and immaturity they absolutely need us to guard their minds for them.

Every Christian parent should strive to provide Christian influences for their children. For none of us want to stand before God having spiritually neglected our children, and failing them.

Are You a Peculiar Person?

In 1 Peter 2:9, Peter declares that God’s children are to be a peculiar people. Since we are a purchased possession, Ephesians 1:4. Acquired by Christ, 1 Thessalonians 5:9. We belong to Him! And if He wants His people to be peculiar, different or special then we must behave that way, and be what He wants. His word clearly teaches us that what He wants is for us to be Christians, people of the book, who seek to be under His authority as outlined in the good book, Matthew 7:21-23. Since that is true:

We are to be a world-wide church, yes we are catholic, but we are not to be Roman Catholics.

We are to protest against all religious error (1 Timothy 4:1-3; Jude 1:3; 1 John 4:1; Galatians 1:6-9) but we are not a Protestant denomination. We are to be like those who were first called Christians in Antioch, Acts 11:26.

We know there are diversities of charisma (1 Corinthians 12:4) but that does not mean we are to be Charismatic. We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when we are baptized into Christ (Acts 2:38) and that does not enable us to raise the dead, speak in foreign languages, and perform miracles the way the apostles did (1 Corinthians 13:8-13). Nor does receiving the spirit at baptism, give us the authority to jump pews, swing from ceiling fans, make animal noises, and bark and holy laugh our way through worship.

We know the roots of the church were in Judaism, but that does not mean the church is for one ethnicity. The Lord’s church is to be comprised of people seeking a heavenly home from every nationality and ethnicity.

We have a scriptural leadership and have bishops who oversee us (1 Timothy 3:1-2), but we are not Episcopalians. These bishops are also called elders (Acts 20:7), but we are not Presbyterian.

We clearly want to obey the Bible and do all things decently and in order, 1 Corinthians 14:40, which means we are methodical, but we certainly were not called to be Methodists.

We baptize, but that does not make us Baptists (Romans 6:3-4).

We are to be God’s peculiar people. And who are they? They are people without denominational affiliation. We are baptized into Christ, and He adds us to His church, Acts 2:41-47, known as the church of God (1 Corinthians 1:2) or churches of Christ (Romans 16:16). Those peculiar people are known as Christians (Acts 11:26) and they follow the Bible only as their creed and guide. No matter what age we may live in the Dark Ages, the Stone Ages, the Enlightenment or the Internet Age, God’s peculiar people know His word has the power to speak to all nations from every age and make them part of God’s family. A family that wishes to be peculiar and worship God and serve God as He tells us to (John 4:24) and not how man tells us to or wants (Matthew 15:1-9, 13; 2 Timothy 4:1-4).

Are you a peculiar person?

God’s Everlasting Love

“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee,” Jeremiah 31:3.  Notice the phrase “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” This phrase will be my topic over the next two or three articles.

We read of the amazing and eternal love of God. A love that was powerful enough to cause Him to send forth His Son to die for our sins, John 3:16; Romans 5:8. So, we know the results of His love. He worked for years to bring forth His Son during the fullness of time, Galatians 4:4. He allowed His Son to die for us when we deserved nothing more than the wrath of God, Romans 3:10, 3:23.  Though we know these amazing results of His love, and though Paul teaches us to comprehend and know the love of Christ, Ephesians 3:17-18. Do we really when all is said and done understand the mystery and marvel of His love?

His love is clearly a marvel! Sin-stained and broken in every way, God still loves us, and sent forth His Son to give us life, Romans 5:8. When God extended Hezekiah’s life, Hezekiah said, “But thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption,” Isaiah 38:17. And praise be to God that He has provided a way to deliver us from the fires of hell today.

His love is a mystery! How can one so pure, righteous and holy love vile sinners? Habbakkuk wrote in 1:13, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.” But, yet, from His grace and pity (Ephesians 4:1-4) He looked down upon this fallen creation and extended us the gift of His Son. His love is clearly beyond our comprehension to understand in our limited ability. But, it doesn’t mean we can’t understand His love is “more marvelous than comprehension.” The Psalmist declared, “This is the Lord’s doing, it is marvelous in our eyes,” Psalm 118:23.

He loves us because He is our Father, Matthew 6:1. Many of us were blessed to have loving fathers. And those of us who did have loving father’s, had fathers, whose love is a glimpse of the love from our Father above. When we were sad, our earthly fathers wanted to make us happy. When we were hurting, they wanted to take away the pain. Even if you disappointed your father, you know he still loved you. And even if you did something wrong, maybe you broke something, you knew he could fix it! The same is true of our heavenly Father and then some. David said in Psalm 103:13-17, “Like as a father pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind pasdeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children.”

God’s Everlasting Love #2

“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee,” Jeremiah 31:3.  Notice the phrase “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.”

The everlasting love of God is evidenced in His pity for us, Ephesians 2:1-4. Being young and vulnerable to the advances of Satan, we all have allowed him to fool us and lead us into a miry pit. As our predator, “by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ,” 2 Corinthians 11:3. Though corrupted, His love still stretches from heaven above to lift us up out of sin’s pit.

Secondly, God loves us as evidenced by the truth, “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me,” Psalm 199:73. We are the work of His hands, made in His image, Genesis 1:26. He loves His creation because we are His.  He formed us. He molded us. And the image given to us, will be returned to Him soon, Ecclesiastes 12:7.

Thirdly, our God loves us because of the potential each and every one of us has. No matter how far we have fallen, no matter how much evil we think we have done, if we have breath, God still sees the potential in us. The wise man said in Ecclesiastes 7:29, “God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” Think of Saul, who became Paul, for a minute. There was not a Christian in the land who saw anything good in him. There was more than one prayer lifted up to heaven asking God to rid them of Saul and his band of persecutors. Though misguided, God saw something in him, rescued and cleansed him from sin, to become a tireless worker for Christ, Acts 22:13-16. The same is true of you. It doesn’t matter how your family or neighbors view you. They might view you as the “black sheep” the biggest “mess-up” in the world. Well, God too sees your sins, but He also sees your potential.

God’s Everlasting Love – #3

“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee,” Jeremiah 31:3.  Notice the phrase “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.”

God’s love is great as is evidenced by His desire and intention for us to live with Him forever, Genesis 2:9. But, then sin got in the way and devastated that plan, Genesis 3:8. God didn’t throw His creation away. Starting in Genesis 3:15 he prophesied of a solution that would come through “her seed,” which would enable us to have a home in heaven with him for eternity, Hebrews 11:6; Matthew 25:46.

Secondly, God’s love is evidenced to us through the precious gift of His only begotten Son. Who was sent to redeem, rescue, and cleanse those obedient to Him, John 3:16-21. This sacrifice alone shows the extent of God’s love for us, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, which we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,” Romans 5:8.

Thirdly, God’s love is boundless as evidenced by his far-reaching desire of us taking the gospel to the four corners of the earth to save the souls of all mankind, Matthew 28:18. It is His desire that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Fourth, the love of God is endless. We live in a throwaway world. We have disposable cups, plates, forks, napkins, and so much more. Even many of our electronics today are made to be disposable, meaning it is simply cheaper to buy new than to repair. With God, His love has no end. There is no expiration date. David expresses this sentiment in Psalms 86:15-16, “But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me.” There is no questioning that His love toward us is an everlasting love, Jeremiah 31:3.

As God’s people let’s rejoice in His love. “The love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us,” Romans 5:5. And never forget to continue to read, believe and rejoice it. And to study the Bible, which is the amazing record of the love of God.