Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Do you like to help poor people? Jesus said in Mark 14:7 that as long as time lasts, there will be poor people all around us. In the final judgment day, we will be very much embarrassed if we have not helped them. In fact, Jesus' parable in Matthew 25 hinges our eternal destiny on how we have treated the poor. He says that He will tell each person, "Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me" (vs. 40). In other words, Jesus identified Himself with poor, needy people.
Psalm 41:1-3 has a very valuable promise: "Happy are those who are concerned for the poor; the Lord will help them when they are in trouble. The Lord will protect them and preserve their lives; He will make them happy in the land; He will not abandon them to the power of their enemies. The Lord will help them when they are sick and will restore them to health" (Good News Bible).
Note the word "concerned" does not mean flipping a coin to a poor person now and then, and responding grudgingly to an appeal for help. It means a constant state of the heart, a constant feeling of concern for the needs of others, a habitual desire to help. The Lord notices when that kind of concern fills our hearts and He responds by helping us when we are in need. And note verse 2: He will make us happy, and will not abandon us to those who would harm us. And verse 3: This is especially precious--the Lord will help us when we are sick and restore us to health. All because we have a habitual concern for poor people!
Well, there are many poor people in the world today and one wonders what to do to help them. One doesn't like to pour water down the drain; some people are poor because they waste what they have. In the long run, what poor people need most of all is a true knowledge of the pure gospel of Christ. Only at the cross of Christ can they learn the secret of true self-respect. Let's remember that nothing that we possess is really our own--we are just managers of the Lord's wealth!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: 1994 Phone Message.
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