THE CRY OF THE POOR
Michael W. Niva
"If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too
will cry out and not be answered." (Prov. 21:13)
It's sobering to think that ready answers to our most heartfelt prayers for ourselves, our families, friends and churches may in fact be roadblocked by our own reticence to hear the heart cries of the world's poor and to respond in generosity of spirit. Currently, the average American family lives at the top 1% of the world's population economically. Because of this, it is incumbent upon us to make ourselves aware of the plight of the world's poorest and most marginalized people and to reprioritize our lives in a way that will enable us to assist in relief efforts on their behalf at the highest possible level.
The average American church sets aside a mere 2% of 2% of per capita income for welfare relief efforts. This is an abysmal statistic and an indictment upon our current Christian values and lifestyles. Simply put, of the total of church income, about 99% is spent on our own comforts, programs and personal preferences. The Apostle James said, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27) Does this not make all other aspects of our "religion" at least suspect of being impure and defiled?
I just finished a watershed book by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision. It is entitled The Hole In Our Gospel. I highly recommend it to every person that I know. In his own words, relieving the poor of the world is "the answer that changed my life and might just change the world." I'm going to take the liberty in this post of including a lengthy quote, not by some leading evangelical pastor or spokesperson, but by Bono, lead singer of the band U2.
Fifteen thousand Africans are dying each day of preventable, treatable diseases - AIDS, malaria, TB - for lack of drugs that we take for granted. This statistic alone makes a fool of the idea many of us hold on to very tightly: the idea of equality. What is happening to Africa mocks our pieties, doubts our concern and questions our commitment to the whole concept. Because if we're honest, there's no way we could conclude that such mass death day after day would ever be allowed to happen anywhere else. Certainly not North America or Europe, or Japan. An entire continent bursting into flames? Deep down, if we really accept that their lives - African lives - are equal to ours, we would all be doing more to put the fire out. It's an uncomfortable truth.
Bono goes on to plead with our generation to make our mark on history by answering the call that lies before us, the call that I believe emanates daily from the heart of the Father God.
We can be the generation that no longer accepts that an accident of latitude determines whether a child lives or dies - but will we be that generation? Will we in the West realize our potential or will we sleep in the comfort of our affluence with apathy and indifference murmuring softly in our ears? Fifteen thousand people are dying needlessly every day from AIDS, TB and malaria; mothers, fathers, teachers, farmers, nurses, mechanics, children. This is Africa's crisis. That it's not on the nightly news, that we do not treat this as an emergency - that's our crisis. Future generations flipping through these pages will know whether we answered the key question. The evidence will be the world around them. History will be our judge, but what's written is up to us. We can't say our generation didn't know how to do it. We can't say our generation couldn't afford to do it. And we can't say our generation didn't have reason to do it. It's up to us.
I ask you, dear reader, to deeply consider your ways, the ways of your families, churches, synagogues, private clubs, corporations and organizations. Will you allow your heart to be broken by what breaks the heart of God? Over 5,000,000 die on the African continent needlessly each year. Another 5,000,000, mostly children, die needlessly throughout the rest of the world each year as well. Who will answer the cries of the poor?
Christ has no body on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which
Christ's compassion for the world is to look out;
yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good;
and yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.
(Saint Teresa of Avila)
If there was ever a time when people of faith needed to lead the world in a social and cultural revolution, this is that time. Jesus Christ was a revolutionary at heart. He taught us to pray that the Kingdom of God would come and the will of God would be done on Earth. Who will be the cultural change agents of our generation? We are plan A and there is no plan B.
The world can no longer be left to mere diplomats, politicians and business leaders. They have done the best they could, no doubt. But this is an age for spiritual heroes - a time for men and women to be heroic in their faith and in spiritual character and power. The greatest danger to the Christian church today is that of pitching its message too low.
(Dallas Willard - The Spirit Of The Disciplines)
