Are contemporary Christians consumers or distributors of God's material blessings?
A crucial element that must be discussed while studying table fellowship in the New Testament is compassion. Luke 16:19-31 presents the story of the rich man and Lazarus. This may very well be the best illustration for a discussion of compassion in the Bible. The point of the story is simple: those who are blessed must share with those less fortunate. The rich man must have ignored Lazarus given the fact that Lazarus laid at the gate of the rich man (16:20). This is the equivalent of Lazarus laying on the rich man’s front porch. There was no way that the rich man could not have noticed poor Lazarus. The text emphasizes the rich man’s chosen path of selfishness.
It is inexcusable for the rich to ignore the poor. God never intended for poor people to be among his people (Deut 15:4) but he knew the reality of life. God knows that humans often have a desire to be consumers of wealth rather than distributors of it. If not convinced by the story of the rich man and Lazarus, see Deut 15:7-11 for a convicting discussion of the proper role of wealth in the lives of God’s people.
2 comments:
Lately I have been wundering if we need to spend more time in helping others to find the resources that already exist for the needy and then encouraging them.
I struggle with this subject on many levels. I oscillate from guilt for being blessed and being a "consumer" and mounting debt that requires that I further allocate the "blessings" to paying for my indulgences instead of maintaining a more modest lifestyle, thereby enabling myself to allocate more to those in need.
The reality is -- once you've gotten in a hole deep enough, it's difficult to climb out. Family needs -- educations for your kids, retirement, etc, can really create a challenge when it comes to balancing what's appropriate.
We would really serve our youth well by providing help in understanding how to do so. By the time many of our young folks get out of school and get married, they've amassed such a debt they, too are likely to find themselves in that same trap.
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