Consider the poor

Blessed is he who considers the poor; The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive, And he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. – Psalm 41.1-2

‘Blessed is he who considers the poor’ God says. That is a constant theme in the word of God. God’s people are always called on to consider the poor and historically that is something that has made God’s people stand out in the world.

God’s people are responsible for the poor. It is talked about in the Law, but it is clarified in the teachings of Christ. Virtually every letter to the churches talk about the poor. Christians are told to gather offerings to meet the needs of the poor. When Paul gave his marvellous farewell address to the Ephesian elders that last thing He says is ‘remember the poor.’

This concept of considering the poor has made all the difference in the world though history. In the earliest days of the church Christians made a mark. The fed their own poor, but they went beyond that to feed the Roman. The Roman authorities couldn’t handle that making comments like, ‘these Christians have the audacity not only to care for their own, but to care for us!’

At one point Jesus said that best test of how we would treat Him is how we treat the poor. If that is the test how are we doing?

A lot of us in the West don’t see a whole lot of poverty so for us it is a matter of ‘out of sight out of mind.’

But that doesn’t change the truth of ‘consider the poor.’