January is "National Poverty in America Awareness Month," and as part of that larger movement, a coalition of local churches, non-profit organizations and social service providers are sponsoring "Hood County Poverty Sunday" on Sunday, January 11, 2009. To commemorate Poverty Awareness Month, each day during the month of January, Life on The Way will present a devotional thought relating to the issue of poverty and the Bible.
"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED." - Luke 4:18
A proper concern for and relationship to the poor is not the (i.e., the only decisive) measure of faithful discipleship and faithful communication of the gospel of the kingdom. At the same time, one does not dare spiritualize Jesus' announcement of the Good News and blessing to the poor and suggest that Jesus was directing the poor to take comfort in the treasures of heaven where moth and rust do not corrupt.
The heretical neglect of the poor by many affluent Christians is a flat rejection of the Lord of the church. If Jesus is the norm, then faithful Christian sharing of the gospel will make the poor one major priority in such a way that the poor in the world today are as convinced as the poor in Jesus' day that the gospel is fantastic news for them – precisely because Jesus' new kingdom community embraces the poor, invites them to personal faith, welcomes them into their fellowship, and shares economically so that, in the words of Acts, "there is no poor among them."
Adapted from the book "Good News and Good Works, by Ronald J. Sider
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