It’s fitting that we’ve been going through a series on Treasure, since January is Poverty Awareness Month in America.
Today, 37 million Americans live in poverty. Nearly half of that number (15.6 million) are living in severe poverty – with incomes below half of the poverty line. Since the year 2000, the number of impoverished Americans has grown by over 6 million. Our state has the 7th highest poverty rate in the US, with our neighbor Mississippi ranking first. The statistics pile up around us, screaming almost, begging for our attention.
Jesus said the poor would always be among us. But at the outset of His ministry, as He read Isaiah 61 in the synagogue in Nazareth, He made the proclamation of “good news to the poor” a central tenet of His mission — a mission His followers are called to share in.
Poverty is a worldwide problem. But it goes on in our own backyard, often unnoticed. It’s time for God’s people to make a difference. How? Become conscious of your discretionary, “throw away” spending. What if each of us gave up one Starbucks coffee a week? How many people could we feed if we took the money we ordinarily spend on just one fast food meal a week and donated it to a local poverty relief organization? Get involved in your church’s ministry to the poor. If your church doesn’t offer this type of ministry, start one. Solicit help. Become vocal in your circles of influence. We could do so much and it would require so little.
If not us, who?
If not now, when?
already & not yet 
I read your blog entry to Carie, and she put a jar in our kitchen so that we can all make a conscious effort to give.Kinda off subject… did you see The End of the Spear? It is really good. I recommend it.
No, I’ve never seen it. Is it a movie? TV show?I applaud you guys for making a commitment to give. That jar would be a great place to put all your loose change at the end of the day. I’d be interested to see how much loose change you could accumulate over a week or two. Like I said, it takes so little
The End of the Spear is a movie that is now in theaters about the five American missionaries that were murdered in 1956 by members of an Ecuadoran tribe. It tells the story of those men who were killed, the wives that stayed and ministered to the men that killed their husbands, and the boy who formed a beautiful friendship with his father’s murderer. All of this to share Christ’s love with others. This movie is amazing. You have got to see it!
End of the Spear is done by the same people who did the documentary called “Beyond the Gates of Splendor”. We did a two week mini series on this in our class here.
I checked out the World Vision website today. There’s not only opportunities to sponser families abroad monthly, but also to make donations to domestic activities. I wonder how many kids from the youthgroup we could get to go in together and sponser families, or even make one-time donations. If 8 people committed to giving $5 a month, we’d have one family covered. I know we’re doing that for Miriam already, but if even a few of us went the “extra mile” we could really help.